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MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 

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HISTORY 



OF 



MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 



BY JACOB ABBOTT. 



ft?) SSttfltabfn'gsf. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
1860. 



-tv MM 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and forty-eight, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern Dbtrici 
of New York. 



PREFACE. 



The history of the life of every individual 
who has, for any reason, attracted extensively 
the attention of mankind, has been written in 
a great variety of ways by a multitude of au- 
thors, and persons sometimes wonder why we 
should have so many different accounts of the 
same thing. The reason is, that each one of 
these accounts is intended for a different set of 
readers, who read with ideas and purposes wide- 
ly dissimilar from each other. Among the 
twenty millions of people in the United States, 
there are perhaps two millions, between the ages 
of fifteen and twenty-five, who wish to become 
acquainted, in general, with the leading events 
in the history of the Old "World, and of ancient 
times, but who, coming upon the stage in this 
land and at this period, have ideas and concep- 
tions so widely .different from those of other na- 
tions and of other times, that a mere republica- 



viii Preface. 

tion of existing accounts is not what they re- 
quire. The story must be told expressly for 
them. The things that are to be explained, 
the points that are to be brought out, the com- 
parative degree of prominence to be given to 
the various particulars, will all be different, on 
account of the difference in the situation, the 
ideas, and the objects of these new readers, 
compared with those of the various other classes 
of readers which former authors have had in 
view. It is for this reason, and with this view, 
that the present series of historical narratives is 
presented to the public. The author, having 
had some opportunity to become acquainted 
with the position, the ideas, and the intellect- 
ual wants of those whom he addresses, presents 
the result of his labors to them, with the hope 
that it may be found successful in accomplish- 
ing its design. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

I. MARY'S CHILDHOOD a „ 13 

II. HER EDUCATION IN FRANCE 37 

III. THE GREAT WEDDING 56 

IV. MISFORTUNES 76 

V. RETURN TO SCOTLAND 99 

VI. MART AND LORD DARNLEY 124 

VII. RIZZIO 147 

VIII. BOTHWELL 168 

IX. THE FALL OF BOTHWELL 198 

X. LOCH LEVEN CASTLE ... .. „. 218 

XI. THE LONG CAPTIVITY . . - , , 244 

XII. THE END „ „ 2S0 



ENGRAVINGS. 



Page 
DUMBARTON CASTLE, ON THE CLYDE. Frontispiece. "" 

MAP OF THE CENTRAL .PAR.T OF SCOTLAND. W 

PLAN OF THE PALACE OF LINLITHGOW 22 

VIEW OF THE PALACE OF LINLITHGOW 25 

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 91 

MART'S EMBARKATION AT CALAIS 105" 

VIEW OF THE PALACE OF HOLTROOD HOUSE . 114 

VIEW OF WEMYS CASTLE 137 

PLAN OF HOLYROOD HOUSE 160 

PRINCE JAMES'S CRADLE 174 

VIEW OF EDINBURGH 179 

PLAN OF THE HOUSE AT THE KIRK o' FIELD 182 

VIEW OF DUNBAR CASTLE 193 

PLAN OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 221 U 

VIEW OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 236 ^ 

RUINS OF LOCH LEVEN CASTLE 24]' 

VIEW OF FOTHERINGAY 271 

MARY'S TOMB IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY . . . . 285 



Illuminated Title-page, from a design by Gwilt Mapleson. The 
vignette represents the Castle of Loch Leven. The middle shield be- 
low represents the arms of Scotland, ornamented beneath with the 
national emblem, the thistle. On the right are the arms of France, 
with the lilies ; and on the left those of England, with the white and 
red roses, which were blended by Mary's grandfather, Henry VII 



MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, 



Chapter I. 

Mary's Childhood. 



Pal.tce where Mary was born. Its situation. 

IRAVELERS who go into Scotland take 
a great interest in visiting, among other 
places, a certain room in the ruins of an old 
palace, where Queen Mary was born. Queen 
Mary was very beautiful, but she was very un- 
fortunate and unhappy. Every body takes a 
strong interest in her story, and this interest 
attaches, in some degree, to the room where 
her sad and sorrowful life was begun. 

The palace is near a little village called Lin- 
lithgow. The village has but one long street, 
which consists of ancient stone houses. North 
of it is a little lake, or rather pond : they call i t , 
in Scotland, a loch. The palace is between the 
village and the loch ; it is upon a beautiful swell 
of land which proj ect s out into the water. There 
is a very small island in the middle of the loch, 
and the shores are bordered with fertile fields. 



14 Mary Queen op Scots. [1542. 



Ruins. The room. Visitors. 

The palace, when entire, was square, with an 
open space or court in the center. There was 
a beautiful stone fountain in the center of this 
court, and an arched gateway through which 
horsemen and carriages could ride in. The doors 
of entrance into the palace were on the inside of 
the court. 

The palace is now in ruins. A troop of sol- 
diers came to it one day in time of war, after 
Mary and her mother had left it, and spent the 
night there : they spread straw over the floors 
to sleep upon. In the morning, when they weni 
away, they wantonly set the straw on fire, and 
left it burning, and thus the palace was destroy- 
ed. Some of the lower floors were of stone ; but 
all the upper floors and the roof were burned, 
and all the wood-work of the rooms, and the 
doors and window-frames. Since then the pal- 
ace has never been repaired, but remains a mel- 
ancholy pile of ruins. 

The room where Mary was born had a stone 
floor. The rubbish which has fallen from above? 
has covered it with a sort of soil, and grass and 
weeds grow up all over it. It is a very melan- 
choly sight to see. The visitors who go into the 
room walk mournfully about, trying to imag- 
ine how Queen Mary looked, as an Infant in her 



1542.] Mary's Childhood. lo 

Mary's father in the wars. His death 

mother's arms, and reflecting on the reckless- 
ness of the soldiers in wantonly destroying so 
beautiful a palace. Then they go to the win- 
dow, or, rather, to the crumbling opening in the 
wall where the window once was, and look out 
upon the loch, now so deserted and lonely ; over 
their heads it is all open to the sky. 

Mary's father was King of Scotland. At the 
time that Mary was born, he was away from 
home engaged in war with the King of England, 
who had invaded Scotland. In the battles Ma- 
ry's father was defeated, and he thought that the 
generals and nobles who commanded his army 
allowed the English to conquer them on purpose 
to betray him. This thought overwhelmed him 
with vexation and anguish. He pined away 
under the acuteness of his sufferings, and just 
after the news came to him that his daughter 
Mary was born, he died. Thus Mary became 
an orphan, and her troubles commenced, at the 
very beginning of her days. She never saw her 
father, and her father never saw her. Her 
mother was a French lady ; her name was Mary 
of Guise. Her own name was Mary Stuart, but 
she is commonly called Mary Queen of Scots. 

As Mary was her father's only child, of course, 
when he died, she became Queen of Scotland, 



16 Mary Queen of 8 cots. [1512, 

Regency. Catholic religion. The Protestant, 

although she was only a few days old. It is 
customary, in such a case, to appoint some dis- 
tinguished person to govern the kingdom, in the 
name of the young queen, until she grows up : 
such a person is called a regent. Mary's moth- 
er wished to be the regent until Mary became 
of age. 

It happened that in those days, as now, the 
government and people of France were of the 
Catholic religion. England, on the other hand, 
was Protestant. There is a great difference 
between the Catholic and the Protestant sys- 
tems. The Catholic Church, though it extends 
nearly all over the world, is banded together, 
as the reader is aware, under one man — the 
pope — who is the great head of the Church, 
and who lives in state at Rome. The Catho- 
lics have, in all countries, many large and splen- 
did churches, wdiich are ornamented with paint- 
ings and images of the Virgin Mary and of 
Christ. They perform great ceremonies in these 
churches, the priests being dressed in magnifi- 
cent costumes, and walking in processions, with 
censers of incense burning as they go. The 
Protestants, on the other hand, do not like these 
ceremonies ; they regard such outward acts of 
fvorship as mere useless parade, and the image? 



1543.] Mary's Childhood. 17 

England and France. The Earl of Arran. 

as idols. They themselves have smaller and 
plainer churches, and call the people together in 
them to hear sermons, and to offer up simple 
prayers. 

In the time of Mary, England was Protest- 
ant and France was Catholic, while Scotland 
was divided, though most of the people were 
Protestants. The two parties were very much 
excited against each other, and often persecuted 
each other with extreme cruelty. Sometimes 
the Protestants would break into the Catholic 
churches, and tear down and destroy the paint- 
ings and the images, and the other symbols of 
worship, all which the Catholics regarded with 
extreme veneration ; this exasperated the Cath- 
olics, and when they became powerful in their 
turn, they would seize the Protestants and im- 
prison them, and sometimes burn them to death, 
by tying them to a stake and piling fagots of 
wood about them, and then setting the heap on 
fire. 

Queen Mary's mother was a Catholic, and 
for that reason the people of Scotland were not 
willing that she should be regent. There were 
one or two other persons, moreover, who claimed 
the office. One was a certain nobleman called 
the Earl of Arran. He was a Protestant. The 
9 



18 Mary Queen of Scots. [1543. 

The regency. Arran regent 

Earl of Arran was the next heir to the crown, 
so that if Mary had died in her infancy, he would 
have been king. He thought that this was a 
reason why he should be regent, and govern the 
kingdom until Mary became old enough to gov- 
ern it herself. Many other persons, however, 
considered this rather a reason why he should 
not be regent; for they thought he would be 
naturally interested in wishing that Mary should 
not live, since if she died he would himself be- 
come king, and that therefore he would not be 
a safe protector for her. However, as the Earl 
of Arran was a Protestant, and as Mary's moth- 
er was a Catholic, and as the Protestant inter- 
est was the strongest, it was at length decided 
that Arran should be the regent, and govern the 
country until Mary should be of age. 

It is a curious circumstance that Mary's birth 
put an end to the war between England and 
Scotland, and that in a very singular way. The 
King of England had been fighting against Ma- 
ry's father, James, for a long time, in order to 
conquer the country and annex it to England ; 
and now that James was dead, and Mary had 
become queen, with Arran for the regent, it de- 
volved on Arran to carry on the war. But the 
King of England and his government, now that 



1543.] Mary's Childhood. 19 

New plan. End of the war. King Henry VIII. 

the young queen was born, conceived of a new 
plan. The king had a little son, named Ed- 
ward, about four years old, who, of course, would 
become King of England in his place when he 
should himself die. Now he thought it would 
be best for him to conclude a peace with Scot- 
land, and agree with the Scottish government 
that, as soon as Mary was old enough, she should 
become Edward's wife, and the two kingdoms 
be united in that way. 

The name of this King of England was Hen- 
ry the Eighth. He was a very headstrong and 
determined man. This, his plan, might have 
been a very good one ; it was certainly much 
better than an attempt to get possession of Scot- 
land by fighting for it; but he was very far 
from being as moderate and just as he should 
have been in the execution of his design. The 
first thing was to ascertain whether Mary was 
a strong and healthy child; for if he should 
make a treaty of peace, and give up all his 
plans of conquest, and then if Mary, after liv- 
ing feebly a few years, should die, all his plans 
would fail. To satisfy him on this point, they 
actually had some of the infant's clothes re- 
moved in the presence of his embassador, in or- 
der that the embassador might see that her form 




20 Mary Queen of Scots. [1 

Janet Sinclair. King Henry's demands. 

was perfect, and her limbs vigorous and strong. 
The nurse did this with great pride and pleas- 
ure, Mary's mother standing by. The nurse's 
name was Janet Sinclair. The embassador 
wrote back to Henry, the King of England, that 
little Mary was " as goodly a child as he ever 
saw." So King Henry VIII. was confirmed in 
his design of having her for the wife of his son. 

King Henry VIII. accordingly changed all his 
plans. He made a peace with the Earl of Ar- 
ran. He dismissed the prisoners that he had 
taken, and sent them home kindly. If he had 
been contented with kind and gentle measures 
like these, he might have succeeded in them, al- 
though there was, of course, a strong party in 
Scotland opposed to them. Mary's mother was 
opposed to them, for she was a Catholic and a 
French lady, and she wished to have her daugh- 
ter become a Catholic as she grew up, and mar- 
ry a French prince. All the Catholics in Scot- 
land took her side. Still Henry's plans might 
have been accomplished, perhaps, if he had been 
moderate and conciliating in the efforts which 
he made to carry them into effect. 

But Henry VIII. was headstrong and obsti- 
nate. He demanded that Mary, since she was 
to be his son's wife, should be given up to him 



1543.] Mary's Childhood. 21 

Objections to them. Plans for Mary 

to be taken into England, and educated there, 
under the care of persons whom he should ap- 
point. He also demanded that the Parliament 
of Scotland should let him have a large share 
in the government of Scotland, because he was 
going to be the father-in-law of the young queen. 
The Parliament would not agree to either of 
these plans ; they were entirely unwilling to al- 
low their little queen to be carried off to another 
country, and put under the charge of so rough 
and rude a man. Then they were unwilling, 
too, to give him any share of the government 
during Mary's minority. Both these measures 
were entirely inadmissible ; they would, if 
adopted, have put both the infant Queen of 
Scotland and the kingdom itself completely in 
the power of one who had always been their 
greatest enemy. 

Henry, finding that he could not induce the 
fecotch government to accede to these plans, 
gave them up at last, and made a treaty of 
marriage between his son and Mary, with the 
agreement that she might remain in Scotland 
until she was ten years old, and that then she 
should come tc England and be under his care. 

All this time, while these grand negotiations 
w«re pending between two mighty nations about 



22 



Mary Queen of Scots. [1543 



Linlithgow. 



Plan of the palace 



her marriage, little Mary was unconscious of it 
all, sometimes reposing quietly in Janet Sin- 
clair's arms, sometimes looking out of the win- 
dows of the Castle of Linlithgow to see the 
swans swim upon the lake, and sometimes, per- 
haps, creeping about upon the palace floor, where 
the earls and barons who came to visit her moth- 
er, clad in armor of steel, looked upon her with 
pride and pleasure. The palace where she lived 
was beautifully situated, as has been before re- 
marked, on the borders of a lake. It was ar- 
ranged somewhat in the following manner : 
Plan of the Palace of Linlithgow. 




Church-yarJ. 



a. Room where Mary was born. e. Entrance through great gates. 
'jp. Bow-window projecting toward the water d. Psn where they kept 
a lion. 1. 1 Trees. 



1543.] Mary's Childhood. 23 

Fountain. The lion's den. 

There was a beautiful fountain in the center 
of the court-yard, where water spouted out from 
the mouths of carved images, and fell into mar- 
ble basins below. The ruins of this fountain 
and of the images remain there still. The den 
at d was a round pit, like a well, which you 
could look down into from above : it was about 
ten feet deep. They used to keep lions in such 
dens near the palaces and castles in those days. 
A lion in a den was a sort of plaything in form- 
er times, as a parrot or a pet lamb is now : this 
was in keeping with the fierce and warlike spirit 
of the age. If they had a lion there in Mary's 
time, Janet often, doubtless, took her little charge 
out to see it, and let her throw down food to it 
from above. The den is there now. You ap- 
proach it upon the top of a broad embankment, 
which is as high as the depth of the den, so 
that the bottom of the den is level with the sur- 
face of the ground, which makes it always dry. 
There is a hole, too, at the bottom, through the 
wall, where they used to put the lion in. 

The foregoing plan of the buildings and 
grounds of Linlithgow is drawn as maps and 
plans usually are, the upper part toward the 
north. Of course the room &, where Mary was 
born, is on the western side. The adjoining 



24 Mary Queen of Scots. [1543 

Explanation of the engraving. The coronation, 

engraving represents a view of the palace on 
this western side. The church is seen at the 
right, and the lawn, where Janet used to take 
Mary out to breathe the air, is in the foreground. 
The shore of the lake is very near, and winds 
beautifully around the margin of the promonto- 
ry on which the palace stands. Of course the 
lion's den, and the ancient avenue of approach 
to the palace, are round upon the other side, and 
out of sight in this view. The approach to the 
palace, at the present day, is on the southern 
side, between the church and the trees on the 
right of the picture. 

Mary remained here at Linlithgow for a year 
or two ; but when she was about nine months 
old, they concluded to have the great ceremony 
of the coronation performed, as she was by that 
time old enough to bear the journey to Stirling 
Castle, where the Scottish kings and queens 
were generally crowned. The coronation of a 
queen is an event which always excites a very 
deep and universal interest among all persons 
in the realm; and there is a peculiar interest 
felt when, as was the case in this instance, the 
queen to be crowned is an infant just old enough 
to bear the journey. There was a very great 
interest felt in Mary's coronation. The dinV 




il 



III II 11111 
llllllllll 

N 1 i Pi !i 

idllftlll 



1543.] Mary's Childhood. 2? 

Stirling Castle. Its situation. Rocky hill. 

ent courts and monarchs of Europe sent embas- 
sadors to be present at the ceremony, and to 
pay their respects to the infant queen ; and Stir- 
ling became, for the time being, the center of 
universal attraction. 

Stirling is in the very heart of Scotland. It- 
is a castle, built upon a rock, or, rather, upon a 
rocky hill, which rises like an island out of the 
midst of a vast region of beautiful and fertile 
country, rich and verdant beyond description. 
Beyond the confines of this region of beauty, 
dark mountains rise on all sides ; and wherever 
you are, whether riding along the roads in the 
plain, or climbing the declivities of the mount- 
ains, you see Stirling Castle, from every point, 
capping its rocky hill, the center and ornament 
of the broad expanse of beauty which sur- 
rounds it. 

Stirling Castle is north of Linlithgow, and is 
distant about fifteen or twenty miles from it. 
The road to it lies not far from the shores of the 
Firth of Forth, a broad and beautiful sheet of 
water. The castle, as has been before remarked, 
was on the summit of a rocky hill. There are 
precipitous crags on three sides of the hill, and a 
gradual approach by a long ascent on the fourth 
side. At the top of this ascent you enter the 



28 M a r v ( I u i ; r n of Soot s. 1 1 54 

Tii.- coronation sci ne Linlithgow and Stu I 

great gates <>l" the castle, crossing a broad and 
deep ditch by means of a draw-bridge. You 
enter then a series of paved courts, with tow- 
ers and Walls around thorn, and finally come 

to the more interior edifices, where the private 
apartments are situated, and where the Little 
queen was crowned. 

H, was an occasion of great pomp and oere- 
mony, though Mary, of course, was unconscious 
of the meaning of It all. She was surrounded 
l»y barons and earls, I » y embassadors and prin* 
oes from foreign courts, and by the principal 

lords and ladies of the Scottish nohility, all 

dressed in magnificent costumes. They held 

littli Mary Up, and a cardinal, that is, a, groat 
dignitary of (ho Rnma.n Catholic Church, plac- 
ed the crown upon her head. I lalf pleased wil.li 

the glittering show, and half frightened at the 

Strange faces Which she saw every where around 

her, she gazed unconsciously upon the scene, 

while her mother, who could heller undcrsfand 

its import, was elated with pride and joy. 

Linlithgow and Stirling are in the open and 
cultivated part of Scotland. All the northern 
and western part of the country consists ofvasl 

masses of mountains, with dark and somher 
glens anion;-; thorn, which arc occupied solely 



s 



ir>if).| jV! akv's Childhood. 2<> 

I'll.- Highland! nwl Mm 1 1 1 ; -. Ii (iiri.l. -i i. U.-llt-imiM cliHlmiiimmti. 

by shepherds and herdsmen with their (locks 
and lien Is. This mountainous region was cull- 
ed Urn Highlands, and Mm inhabitants of it worn 
the Highlanders. They worn a wild and war- 
like class ol men, and their country was seldom 
visited by either friend or foe. At the present 
time there are beautiful roads all through the 
Highlands, and stage-coaches and private car- 
riages roll over them every summer, to take 
tourists to sen and admire the picturesque and 
beautiful .scenery ; but in the days of Mary the 
whole< region was gloomy and desolate, and. al- 
most inaccessible. 

Mary remained in Linlithgow and Stirling 
for about two years, and then, as the country 
was becoming more and more disturbed by the 
struggles of the great contending parties — those 
who weir, in favor of the ( 'a.tholie religion and 
alliance with hYanco on the one hand, and ol 
those in favor of the Protestant religion and al- 
liance with England on the other hand — they 
concluded to send her into the Highlands for 
safety. 

It was not far into the country of the High- 
lands that they concluded to send her, but only 
into the borders of it. Thorn was a small lake 
on the southern margin of the wild and mount* 



30 Mary Queen of Scots. [1546 

Lake Menteith. Mary's companions. The four Maries 

ainous country, called the Lake of Menteith. 
In this lake was an island named Inchmahome, 
the word inch being the name for island in the 
language spoken by the Highlanders. This isl- 
and, which was situated in a very secluded and 
solitary region, was selected as Mary's place of 
residence. She was about four years old when 
they sent her to this place. Several persons 
went with her to take care of her, and to teach 
her. In fact, every thing was provided for her 
which could secure her improvement and hap- 
piness. Her mother did not forget that she 
would need playmates, and so she selected four 
little girls of about the same age with the little 
queen herself, and invited them to accompany 
her. They were daughters of the noblemen 
and high officers about the court. It is very 
singular that these girls were all named Mary. 
Their names in full were as follows : 

Mary Beaton, 

Mary Fleming, 

Mary Livingstone, 

Mary Seaton. 
These, with Mary Stuart, which was Queen 
Mary's name, made five girls of four or five 
years of age, all named Mary. 

Mary lived two years in this solitary island 



1546.] Mary's Childhood. SI 

Angry disputes. Change of plan. Henry's anger. 

She had, however, all the comforts and conven- 
iences of life, and enjoyed herself with her four 
Maries very much. Of course she knew noth- 
ing, and thought nothing of the schemes and 
plans of the great governments for having her 
married, when she grew up, to the young En- 
glish prince, who was then a little boy of about 
her own age, nor of the angry disputes in 
Scotland to which this subject gave rise. It 
did give rise to very serious disputes. Mary's 
mother did not like the plan at all. As she 
was herself a French lady and a Catholic, she 
did not wish to have her daughter marry a 
prince who was of the English royal family, 
and a Protestant. All the Catholics in Scot- 
land took her side. At length the Earl of Ar- 
ran, who was the regent, changed to that side ; 
and finally the government, being thus brought 
over, gave notice to King Henry VIII. that the 
plan must be given up, as they had concluded, 
on the whole, that Mary should not marry his 
son. 

King Henry was very much incensed. He 
declared that Mary should marry his son, and 
he raised an army and sent it into Scotland to 
make war upon the Scotch again, and compel 
them to consent to the execution of the plan* 



32 Mary Queen of Scots. [1546 

Henry's sickness and death. War renewed. 

He was at this time beginning to be sick, but 
his sickness, instead of softening his temper, 
only made him the more ferocious and cruel. 
He turned against his best friends. He grew 
worse, and was evidently about to die ; but he 
was so irritable and angry that for a long time 
no one dared to tell him of his approaching dis- 
solution, and he lay restless, and wretched, and 
agitated with political animosities upon his dy- 
ing bed. At length some one ventured to tell 
him that his end was near. When he found 
that he must die, he resigned himself to his fate. 
He sent for an archbishop to come and see him, 
but he was speechless when the prelate came, 
and soon afterward expired. 

The English government, however, after his 
death, adhered to his plan of compelling the 
Scotch to make Mary the wife of his son. They 
sent an army into Scotland. A great battle 
was fought, and the Scotch were defeated. The 
battle was fought at a place not far from Edin- 
burgh, and near the sea. It was so near the 
sea that the English fired upon the Scotch army 
from their ships, and thus assisted their troops 
upon the shore. The armies had remained sev- 
eral days near each other before coming to bat- 
tle, and during all this time the city of Edin- 



1548.] Mary's Childhood. 33 

Danger in Edinburgh. Aid from France. New plan. 

burgh was in a state of great anxiety and sus- 
pense, as they expected that their city would 
be attacked by the English if they should con- 
quer in the battle. The English army did, in 
fact, advance toward Edinburgh after the bat- 
tle was over, and would have got possession of 
it had it not been for the castle. There is a 
very strong castle in the very heart of Edin- 
burgh, upon the summit of a rocky hill. # 

These attempts of the English to force the 
Scotch government to consent to Mary's mar- 
riage only made them the more determined to 
prevent it. A great many who were not op- 
posed to it before, became opposed to it now, 
when they saw foreign armies in the country 
destroying the towns and murdering the people. 
They said they had no great objection to the 
match, but that they did not like the mode of 
wooing. They sent to France to ask the French 
king to send over an army to aid them, and 
promised him that if he would do so they would 
agree that Mary should marry his son. His 
son's name was Francis. 

The French king was very much pleased 
with this plan. He sent an army of six thou- 
sand men into Scotland to assist the Scotch 

* See the view of Edinburgh, page 179. 

3 



34 Mary Queen of Scots. [1548 

Going to France. Dumbarton Castle. Rock of Dumbarton. 

against their English enemies. It was arrang- 
ed, also, as little Mary was now hardly safe 
among all these commotions, even in her re- 
treat in the island of Inchmahome, to send her 
to France to be educated there, and to live there 
until she was old enough to be married. The 
same ships which brought the army from France 
to Scotland, were to carry Mary and her reti- 
nue from Scotland to France. The four Maries 
went with her. 

They bade their lonely island farewell, and 
traveled south till they came to a strong castle 
on a high, rocky hill, on the banks of the River 
Clyde. The name of this fortress is Dumbar- 
ton Castle. Almost all the castles of those 
times were built upon precipitous hills, to in- 
crease the difficulties of the enemies in ap- 
proaching them. The Rock of Dumbarton is a 
very remarkable one. It stands close to the 
bank of the river. There are a great many 
ships and steam-boats continually passing up 
and down the Clyde, to and from the great city 
of Glasgow, and all the passengers on board 
gaze with great interest, as they sail by, on the 
Rock of Dumbarton, with the castle walls on 
the sides, and the towers and battlements crown- 
ing the summit* In Mary's time there was 



1548.] Mary's Childhood. 35 

Journey to Dumbarton. Tourists. River Clyde. 

comparatively very little shipping on the river , 
but the French fleet was there, waiting oppo- 
site the castle to receive Mary and the numer- 
ous persons who were to go in her train.* 

Mary was escorted from the island where she 
had been living, across the country to Dumbar- 
ton Castle, with a strong retinue. She was 
now between five and six years of age. She 
was, of course, too young to know any thing 
about the contentions and wars which had dis- 
tracted her country on her account, or to feel 

* Travelers who visit Scotland from this country at the 
present day, usually land first, at the close of the voyage 
across the Atlantic, at Liverpool, and there take a Glasgow 
steamer. Glasgow, which is the great commercial city of 
Scotland, is on the River Clyde. This river flows northwest 
to the sea. The steamer, in ascending the river, makes its 
way with difficulty along the narrow channel, which, be- 
sides being narrow and tortuous, is obstructed by boats, ships, 
steamers, and every other variety of water-craft, such as are 
always going to and fro in the neighborhood of any great 
commercial emporium. 

The tourists, who stand upon the deck gazing at this excit- 
ing scene of life and motion, have their attention strongly at- 
tracted, about half way up the river, by this Castle of Dum- 
barton, which crowns a rocky hill, rising abruptly from the 
water's edge, on the north side of the stream. It attracts 
sometimes the more attention from American travelers, on ac- 
count of its being the first ancient castle they see. This is 
likely to be the case if they proceed to Scotland immediately 
on landing at Liverpool. 



36 Mary Queen of Scots. [1548 

The four Maries. Departure from Scotland. 

much interest in the subject of her approaching 
departure from her native land. She enjoyed 
the novelty of the scenes through which she 
passed on her journey. She was pleased with 
the dresses and the arms of the soldiers who ac- 
companied her, and with the ships which were 
floating in the river, beneath the walls of the 
Castle of Dumbarton, when she arrived there. 
She was pleased, too, to think that, wherever 
she was to go, her four Maries were to go with 
her. She bade her mother farewell, embarked 
on board the ship which was to receive her, and 
sailed away from her native land, not to return 
to it again for many years. 



1548.] Her Education in France. 37 



Departure. Stormy voyage 



Chapter II. 
Her Education in France. 

fllHE departure of Mary from Scotland, lit- 
-*- tie as she was, was a great event both for 
Scotland and for France. In those days kings 
and queens were even of greater relative im- 
portance than they are now, and all Scotland 
was interested in the young queen's going 
away from them, and all France in expecting 
her arrival. She sailed down the Clyde, and 
then passed along the seas and channels which 
lie between England and Ireland. These seas, 
though they look small upon the map, are real- 
ly spacious and wide, and are often greatly agi- 
tated by winds and storms. This was the case 
at the time Mary made her voyage. The days 
and nights were tempestuous and wild, and the 
ships had difficulty in keeping in each other's 
company. There was danger of being blown 
upon the coasts, or upon the rocks or islands 
which lie in the way. Mary was too young to 
give much heed to these dangers, but the lords 
and commissioners, and the great ladies who 



38 Mary Queen of Scots. [1548 

Journey to Paris. Release of prisoners. 

went to attend her, were heartily glad when the 
voyage was over. It ended safely at last, after 
several days of tossing upon the stormy billows, 
by their arrival upon the northern coast of 
France. They landed at a town called Brest. 
The King of France had made great prepara- 
tions for receiving the young queen immediate- 
ly upon her landing. Carriages and horses had 
been provided to convey herself and the com- 
pany of her attendants, by easy journeys, to 
Paris. They received her with great pomp 
and ceremony at every town which she passed 
through. One mark of respect which they 
showed her was very singular. The king or- 
dered that every prison w T hich she passed in her 
route should be thrown open, and the prisoners 
set free. This fact is a striking illustration 
of the different ideas which prevailed in those 
days, compared with those which are enter- 
tained now, in respect to crime and punish- 
ment. Crime is now considered as an offense 
against the community, and it would be con- 
sidered no favor to the community, but the re- 
verse, to let imprisoned criminals go free. In 
those days, on the other hand, crimes were con- 
sidered rather as injuries committed by the 
community, and against the king ; so that, if 



1548.] Her Education in France. 39 

Barabbas. St. Germain. Celebrations. 

the monarch wished to show the community a 
favor, he would do it by releasing such of them 
as had been imprisoned by his officers for their 
crimes. It was just so in the time of our Sa- 
vior, when the Jews had a custom of having 
some criminal released to them once a year, at 
the Passover, by the Roman government, as an 
act of favor. That is, the government was ac- 
customed to furnish, by way of contributing its 
share toward the general festivities of the occa- 
sion, the setting of a robber and a murderer at 
liberty ! 

The King of France has several palaces in 
the neighborhood of Paris. Mary was taken to 
one of them, named St. Germain. This pal- 
ace, which still stands, is about twelve miles 
from Paris, toward the northwest. It is a very 
magnificent residence, and has been for many 
centuries a favorite resort of the French kings. 
Many of them were born in it. There are ex- 
tensive parks and gardens connected with it, 
and a great artificial forest, in which the trees 
were all planted and cultivated like the trees 
of an orchard. Mary was received at this pal- 
ace with great pomp and parade; and many 
spectacles and festivities were arranged to amuse 
her and the four Maries who accompanied her. 



40 Mary Queen of Scots. [1549. 

The convent. Character of the nuns. 

and to impress her strongly with an idea of the 
wealth, and power, and splendor of the great 
country to which she had come. 

She remained here but a short time, and then 
it was arranged for her to go to a convent to be 
educated. Convents were in those days, as in 
fact they are now, quite famous as places of 
education. They were situated sometimes in 
large towns, and sometimes in secluded places 
in the country ; but, whether in town or coun- 
try, the inmates of them were shut up very 
strictly from all intercourse with the world. 
They were under the care of nuns who had de- 
voted themselves for life to the service. These 
nuns were some of them unhappy persons, who 
were weary of the sorrows and sufferings of the 
world, and who were glad to retire from it to 
such a retreat as they fancied the convent would 
be. Others became nuns from conscientious 
principles of duty, thinking that they should 
commend themselves to the favor of God by 
devoting their lives to works of benevolence 
and to the exercises of religion. Of course there 
were all varieties of character among the nuns ; 
some of them were selfish and disagreeable, 
others were benevolent and kind. 

At the convent where Mary was sent there 



1550.] Her Education in France. 41 

Interest in Mary. Leaving the convent. 

were some nuns of very excellent and amiable 
character, and they took a great interest in 
Mary, both because she was a queen, and be- 
cause she was beautiful, and of a kind and 
affectionate disposition. Mary became very 
strongly attached to these nuns, and began to 
entertain the idea of becoming a nun herself, 
and spending her life with them in the con- 
vent. It seemed pleasant to her to live there 
in such a peaceful seclusion, in company with 
those who loved her, and whom she herself loved ; 
but the King of France, and the Scottish no- 
bles who had come with her from Scotland, 
would, of course, be opposed to any such plan. 
They intended her to be married to the young 
prince, and to become one of the great ladies 
of the court, and to lead a life of magnificence 
and splendor. They became alarmed, there- 
fore, when they found that she was imbibing a 
taste for the life of seclusion and solitude which 
is led by a nun. They decided to take her im- 
mediately away. 

Mary bade farewell to the convent and its in- 
mates with much regret and many tears ; but, 
notwithstanding her reluctance, she was obliged 
to submit. If she had not been a queen, she 
might, perhaps, have had her own way. As it 



42 Mary Queen of Scots. [1550 

Amusements. Visit of Mary's mother 

was, however, she was obliged to leave the eon- 
vent and the nuns whom she loved, and to go 
back to the palaces of the king, in which she 
afterward continued to live, sometimes in one 
and sometimes in another, for many years. 
Wherever she went, she was surrounded with 
scenes of great gayety and splendor. They 
wished to obliterate from her mind all recollec- 
tions of the convent, and all love of solitude 
and seclusion. They did not neglect her stud- 
ies, but they filled up the intervals of study with 
all possible schemes of enjoyment and pleasure, 
to amuse and occupy her mind and the minds 
of her companions. Her companions were her 
own four Maries, and the two daughters of the 
French king. 

When Mary was about seven years of age, 
that is, after she had been two years in France, 
her mother formed a plan to come from Scot- 
land to see her. Her mother had remained be- 
hind when Mary left Scotland, as she had an 
important part to perform in public affairs, and 
in the administration of the government of Scot- 
land while Mary was away. She wanted, how- 
ever, to come and see her. France, too, was 
her own native land, and all her relations and 
friends resided there. She wished to see them 



1550.] Her Education in France. 43 

Queen dowager. Rouen. A happy meeting. 

as well as Mary, and to revisit once more the 
palaces and cities where her own early life had 
been spent. In speaking of Mary's mother we 
shall call her sometimes the queen dowager. 
The expression queen dowager is the one usu- 
ally applied to the widow of a king, as queen 
consort is used to denote the wife of a king. 

This visit of the queen dowager of Scotland 
to her little daughter in France was an event 
of great consequence, and all the arrangements 
for carrying it into effect were conducted with 
great pomp and ceremony. A large company 
attended her, with many of the Scottish lords 
and ladies among them. The King of France, 
too, went from Paris toward the French coast, 
to meet the party of visitors, taking little Mary 
and a large company of attendants with him. 
They went to Rouen, a large city not far from 
the coast, where they awaited the arrival of 
Mary's mother, and where they received her 
with great ceremonies of parade and rejoicing. 
The queen regent was very much delighted to 
see her little daughter again. She had grown 
two years older, and had improved greatly in 
every respect, and tears of joy came into her 
mother's eyes as she clasped her in her arms. 
The two parties journeyed in company to Paris. 



44 Mary Queen of Scots. [1550 

Rejoicings. A last farewell. Visit to a mourner. 

and entered the city with great rejoicings. The 
two queens, mother and daughter, were the ob- 
j ects of universal interest and attention. Feasts 
and celebrations without end were arranged for 
them, and every possible means of amusement 
and rejoicing were contrived in the palaces of 
Paris, of St. Germain's, and of Fontainebleau. 
Mary's mother remained in France about a 
year. She then bade Mary farewell, leaving 
her at Fontainebleau. This proved to be a final 
farewell, for she never saw her again. 

After taking leave of her daughter, the queen 
dowager went, before leaving France, to see her 
own mother, who was a widow, and who was 
living at a considerable distance from Paris in 
seclusion, and in a state of austere and melan- 
choly grief, on account of the loss of her hus- 
band. Instead of forgetting her sorrows, as she 
ought to have done, and returning calmly and 
peacefully to the duties and enjoyments of life, 
she had given herself up to inconsolable grief, 
and was doing all she could to perpetuate the 
mournful influence of her sorrows. She lived 
in an ancient and gloomy mansion, of vast size, 
and she had hung all the apartments in black, 
to make it still more desolate and gloomy, and 
to continue the influence of grief upon her mind. 



1550.] Her Education in France. 45 

The queen dowager's return. The regency- 

Here the queen dowager found her, spending 
her time in prayers and austerities of every 
kind, making herself and all her family perfect- 
ly miserable. Many persons, at the present day, 
act, under such circumstances, on the same prin- 
ciple and with the same spirit, though they do 
not do it perhaps in precisely the same way. 

One would suppose that Mary's mother would 
have preferred to remain in France with her 
daughter and her mother and all her family 
friends, instead of going back to Scotland, where 
she was, as it were, a foreigner and a stranger. 
The reason why she desired to go back was, 
that she wished to be made queen regent, and 
thus have the government of Scotland in her 
own hands. She would rather be queen re- 
gent in Scotland than a simple queen mother 
in France. While she was in France, she urged 
the king to use all his influence to have Arran 
resign his regency into her hands, and finally 
obtained writings from him and from Queen 
Mary to this effect. She then left France and 
went to Scotland, going through England on 
the way. The young King of England, to 
whom Mary had been engaged by the govern- 
ment when she was an infant in Janet Sin- 
clair's arms, renewed his proposals to the queen 



46 Mary Queen of Scots. [1550 

A page of honor. Sir James Melville. 

dowager to let her daughter become his wife ; 
but she told him that it was all settled that she 
was to be married to the French prince, and 
that it was now too late to change the plan. 

There was a young gentleman, about nineteen 
or twenty years of age, who came from Scot- 
land also, not far from this time, to wait upon 
Mary as her page of honor. A page is an at- 
tendant above the rank of an ordinary servant, 
whose business it is to wait upon his mistress, 
to read to her, sometimes to convey her letters 
and notes, and to carry her commands to the 
other attendants who are beneath him in rank, 
and whose business it is actually to perform the 
services which the lady requires. A page of 
honor is a young gentleman who sustains this 
office in a nominal and temporary manner for a 
princess or a queen. 

The name of Mary's page of honor, who came 
to her now from Scotland, was Sir James Mel- 
ville. The only reason for mentioning him thus 
particularly, rather than the many other officers 
and attendants by whom Mary was surrounded 
was, that the service which he thus commenced 
was continued in various ways through the 
whole period of Mary's life. We shall often 
hear of him in tire subsequent parts of this nar- 



1550.] Her Education in France. 47 

Mary's character. Her diligence. Devices and mottoes. 

rative. He followed Mary to Scotland when 
she returned to that country, and became after- 
ward her secretary, and also her embassador on 
many occasions. He was now quite young, and 
when he landed at Brest he traveled slowly to 
Paris in the care of two Scotchmen, to whose 
charge he had been intrusted. He was a young 
man of uncommon talents and of great accom- 
plishments, and it was a mark of high distinc- 
tion for him to be appointed page of honor to 
the queen, although he was about nineteen 
years of age and she was but seven. 

After the queen regent's return to Scotland, 
Mary went on improving in every respect more 
and more. She was diligent, industrious, and 
tractable. She took a great interest in her 
studies. She was not only beautiful in person, 
and amiable and affectionate in heart, but she 
possessed a very intelligent and active mind, 
and she entered with a sort of quiet but earn- 
est enthusiasm into all the studies to which her 
attention was called. She paid a great deal of 
attention to music, to poetry, and to drawing 
She used to invent little devices for seals, with 
French and Latin mottoes, and, after drawing 
them again and again with great care, until she 
was satisfied with the design, she would give 



48 Mary Queen of Scots. [1550 

Festivities. Water parties. 

them to the gem-engravers to be out upon stone 
seals, so that she could seal her letters with 
them. These mottoes and devices can not well 
be represented in English, as the force and beau- 
ty of them depended generally upon a double 
meaning in some word of French or Latin, 
which can not be preserved in the translation. 
We shall, however, give one of these seals, which 
she made just before she left France, to return 
to Scotland, when we come to that period of her 
history. 

The King of France, and the lords and ladies 
who came with Mary from Scotland, contrived 
a great many festivals and celebrations in the 
parks, and forests, and palaces, to amuse the 
queen and the four Maries who were with her 
The daughters of the French king joined, also, 
in these pleasures. They would have little 
balls, and parties, and pic-nics, sometimes in the 
open air, sometimes in the little summer-houses 
built upon the grounds attached to the palaces. 
The scenes of these festivities were in many 
cases made unusually joyous and gay by bon- 
fires and illuminations. They had water par- 
ties on the little lakes, and hunting parties 
through the parks and forests. Mary was a 
very graceful and beautiful rider, and full of 



1555.] Her Education in France. 49 

Hunting. An accident. Restraint. 



courage. Sometimes she met with accidents 
which were attended with some danger. Once, 
while hunting the stag, and riding at full speed 
with a great company of ladies and gentlemen 
behind her and before her, her dress got caught 
by the bough of a tree, and she was pulled to 
the ground. The horse went on. Several oth- 
er riders drove by her without seeing her, as 
she had too much composure and fortitude to 
attract their attention by outcries and lamenta- 
tions. They saw her, however, at last, and 
came to her assistance. They brought back 
her horse, and, smoothing down her hair, which 
had fallen into confusion, she mounted again 3 
and rode on after the stag as before. 

Notwithstanding all these means of enjoy- 
ment and diversion, Mary was subjected to a 
great deal of restraint. The rules of etiquette 
are very precise and very strictly enforced in 
royal households, and they were still more strict 
in those days than they are now. The king 
was very ceremonious in all his arrangements, 
and was surrounded by a multitude of officers 
who performed every thing by rule. As Mary 
grew older, she was subjected to greater and 
greater restraint. She used to spend a consid- 
erable portion of every day in the apartments 



50 Mary Queen of Scots. [1555 



Queen Catharine. Her character. Embroidery, 

of Queen Catharine, the wife of the King of 
France and the mother of the little Francis to 
whom she was to be married. Mary and Queen 
Catharine did not, however, like each other very 
well. Catharine was a woman of strong mind 
and of an imperious disposition ; and it is sup- 
posed by some that she was jealous of Mary 
because she was more beautiful and accom- 
plished and more generally beloved than her 
own daughters, the princesses of France. At 
any rate, she treated Mary in rather a stern 
and haughty manner, and it was thought that 
she would finally oppose her marriage to Fran- 
cis her son. 

And yet Mary was at first very much pleas- 
ed with Queen Catharine, and was accustomed 
to look up to her with great admiration, and to 
feel for her a very sincere regard. She often 
went into the queen's apartments, where they 
sat together and talked, or worked upon their 
embroidery, which was a famous amusement 
for ladies of exalted rank in those days. Mary 
herself at one time worked a large piece, which 
she sent as a present to the nuns in the con- 
vent where she had resided ; and afterward, in 
Scotland, she worked a great many things, 
some of which still remain, and may be seen in 



1555.] Her Education in France. 51 

Mary's admiration of Queen Catharine. The latter suspicious. 

her ancient rooms in the palace of Holyrood 
House. She learned this art by working with 
Queen Catharine in her apartments. When 
she first became acquainted with Catharine on 
these occasions, she used to love her society. 
She admired her talents and her conversational 
powers, and she liked very much to be in her 
room. She listened to all she said, watched 
her movements, and endeavored in all things to 
follow her example. 

Catharine, however, thought that this was 
all a pretense, and that Mary did not really 
like her, but only wished to make her believe 
that she did so in order to get favor, or to ac- 
complish some other selfish end. One day she 
asked her why she seemed to prefer her society 
to that of her youthful and more suitable com- 
panions. Mary replied, in substance, " The 
reason was, that though with them she might 
enjoy much, she could learn nothing ; while she 
always learned from Queen Catharine's conver- 
sation something which would be of use to her 
as a guide in future life." One would have 
thought that this answer would have pleased 
the queen, but it did not. She did not believe 
that it was sincere. 

On one occasion Mary seriously offended the 



52 Mary Queen of Scots. [1555. 

Unguarded remark. Catharine's mortification. The dauphin. 

queen by a remark which she made, and which 
was, at least, incautious. Kings and queens, 
and, in fact, all great people in Europe, pride 
themselves very much upon the antiquity of the 
line from which they have descended. Now the 
family of Queen Catharine had risen to rank 
and distinction within a moderate period ; and 
though she was, as Queen of France, on the 
very pinnacle of human greatness, she would 
naturally be vexed at any remark which would 
remind her of the recentness of her elevation. 
Now Mary at one time said, in conversation in 
the presence of Queen Catharine, that she her- 
self was the descendant of a hundred kings. 
This was perhaps true, but it brought her into 
direct comparison with Catharine in a point in 
which the latter was greatly her inferior, and it 
vexed and mortified Catharine very much to 
have such a thing said to her by such a child. 

Mary associated thus during all this time, 
not only with the queen and the princesses, but 
also with the little prince whom she was des- 
tined to marry. His name was Francis, but 
he was commonly called the dauphin, which 
was the name by which the oldest son of the 
King of France was then, and has been since 
designated T -\e origin of this custom was this. 



1555.] Her Education in France. 53 



Origin of the title. Character of Francis. 

About a hundred years before the time of which 
we are speaking, a certain nobleman of high 
rank, who possessed estates in an ancient prov- 
ince of France called Dauphiny, lost his son 
and heir. He was overwhelmed with affliction 
at the loss, and finally bequeathed all his es- 
tates to the king and his successors, on condi- 
tion that the oldest son should bear the title of 
Dauphin. The grant was accepted, and the 
oldest son was accordingly so styled from that 
time forward, from generation to generation. 

The dauphin, Francis, was a weak and fee- 
ble child, but he was amiable and gentle in his 
manners, and Mary liked him. She met him 
often in their walks and rides, and she danced 
with him at the balls and parties given for her 
amusement. She knew that he was to be her 
husband as soon as she was old enough to be 
married, and he knew that she was to be his 
wife. It was all decided, and nothing which 
either of them could say or do would have any 
influence on the result. Neither of them, how- 
ever, seem to have had any desire to change the 
result. Mary pitied Francis on account of his 
feeble health, and liked his amiable and gentle 
disposition ; and Francis could not help loving 



54 Mary Queen of Scots. [1555. 

Mary's beauty. Torch-light procession. An angeL 

Mary, both on account of the traits of her char- 
acter and her personal charms. 

As Mary advanced in years, she grew very 
beautiful. In some of the great processions and 
ceremonies, the ladies were accustomed to walk, 
magnificently dressed and carrying torches in 
their hands. In one of these processions Mary 
was moving along with the rest, through a 
crowd of spectators, and the light from her torch 
fell upon her features and upon her hair in such 
a manner as to make her appear more beauti- 
ful than usual. A woman, standing there, 
pressed up nearer to her to view her more close- 
ly, and, seeing how beautiful she was, asked 
her if she was not an angel. In those days, 
however, people believed in what is miraculous 
and supernatural more easily than now, so that 
it was not very surprising that one should think, 
in such a case, that an angel from Heaven had 
come down to join in the procession. 

Mary grew up a Catholic, of course : all were 
Catholics around her. The king and all the 
royal family were devoted to Catholic observ- 
ances. The convent, the ceremonies, the daily 
religious observances enjoined upon her, the 
splendid churches which she frequented, all 
tended in their influence to lead her mind away 



i556.j Her Education in France. 55 

Mary a Catholic. Her conscientiousness and fidelity. 

from the Protestant religion which prevailed in 
her native land, and to make her a Catholic : 
she remained so throughout her life. There is 
no doubt that she was conscientious in her at- 
tachment to the forms and to the spirit of the 
Roman Church. At any rate, she was faithful 
to the ties which her early education imposed 
upon her, and this fidelity became afterward 
the source of some of her heaviest calamities 
and woes. 



56 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558 

Hastening the wedding. Reasons for it 



Chapter III. 

The Great Wedding. 

T^¥7HEN Mary was about fifteen years of 
* " age, the King of France began to think 
that it was time for her to be married. It is 
true that she was still very young, but there 
were strong reasons for having the marriage 
take place at the earliest possible period, for 
fear that something might occur to prevent its 
consummation at all. In fact, there were very 
strong parties opposed to it altogether. The 
whole Protestant interest in Scotland were op- 
posed to it, and were continually contriving 
plans to defeat it. They thought that if Mary 
married a French prince, who was, of course, a 
Catholic, she would become wedded to the Cath- 
olic interest hopelessly and forever. This made 
them feel a most bitter and determined oppo- 
sition to the plan. 

In fact, so bitter and relentless were the an- 
imosities that grew out of this question, that 
an attempt was actually made to poison Mary. 
The man who committed this crime was an 
archer in the king's guard: he was a Scotch- 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 57 

Attempt to poison Mary. The Guises. Catharine's jealousy. 

man, and his name was Stewart. His attempt 
was discovered in time to prevent the accom- 
plishment of his purpose. He was tried and 
condemned. They made every effort to induce 
him to explain the reason which led him to such 
an act, or, if he was employed by others, to re- 
veal their names ; but he would reveal nothing. 
He was executed for his crime, leaving man- 
kind to conjecture that his motive, or that of 
the persons who instigated him to the deed, was 
a desperate determination to save Scotland, at 
all hazards, from falling under the influence of 
papal power. 

Mary's mother, the queen dowager of Scot- 
land, was of a celebrated French family, called 
the family of Guise. She is often, herself, called 
in history, Mary of Guise. There were other 
great families in France who were very jealous 
of the Guises, and envious of their influence 
and power. They opposed Queen Mary's mar- 
riage to the dauphin, and were ready to do all 
in their power to thwart and defeat it. Queen 
Catharine, too, who seemed to feel a greater and 
greater degree of envy and jealousy against 
Mary as she saw her increasing in grace, beau- 
ty, and influence with her advancing years, 
was supposed to be averse to the marriage. 



58 



Mary Queen op Scots. [1558. 



Commissioners from Scotland. Preliminaries. 

Mary was, in some sense, her rival, and she 
could not bear to have her become the wife of 
her son. 

King Henry, finding all these opposing influ- 
ences at work, thought that the safest plan 
would be to have the marriage carried into ef- 
fect at the earliest possible period. "When, 
therefore, Mary was about fifteen years of age, 
which was in 1557, he sent to Scotland, asking 
the government there to appoint some commis- 
sioners to come to France to assent to the mar- 
riage contracts, and to witness the ceremonies 
of the betrothment and the wedding. The mar- 
riage contracts, in the case of the union of a 
queen of one country with a prince of another, 
are documents of very high importance. It is 
considered necessary not only to make very 
formal provision for the personal welfare and 
comfort of the wife during her married life, 
and during her widowhood in case of the death 
of her husband, but also to settle beforehand 
the questions of succession which might arise 
out of the marriage, and to define precisely the 
rights and powers both of the husband and the 
wife, in the two countries to which they re- 
spectively belong. 

The Parliament of Scotland appointed a num- 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 59 

Stipulations. Plan of Henry to evade them. 

ber of commissioners, of the highest rank and 
station, to proceed to France, and to act there 
as the representatives of Scotland in every thing 
which pertained to the marriage. They charged 
them to guard well the rights and powers of 
Mary, to see that these rights and all the inter- 
ests of Scotland were well protected in the mar- 
riage contracts, and to secure proper provision 
for the personal comfort and happiness of the 
queen. The number of these commissioners 
was eight. Their departure from Scotland was 
an event of great public importance. They 
were accompanied by a large number of at- 
tendants and followers, who were eager to be 
present in Paris at the marriage festivities. 
The whole company arrived safely at Paris, 
and were received with every possible mark of 
distinction and honor. 

The marriage contracts were drawn up, and 
executed with great formality. King Henry 
made no objection to any of the stipulations and 
provisions which the commissioners required, 
for he had a secret plan for evading them all 
Very ample provision was made for Mary herself. 
She was to have a very large income. In case 
the dauphin died while he was dauphin, leaving 
Maiy a widow, she was still to have a large in- 



60 



Mary Queen of Scots. [1558 



Marriage settlement. Secret papeT3 

come paid to her by the French government 
as long as she lived, whether she remained in 
France or went back to Scotland. If her hus- 
band outlived his father, so as to become King 
of France, and then died, leaving Mary his wid- 
ow, her income for the rest of her life was to 
be double what it would have been if he had 
died while dauphin. Francis was, in the mean 
time, to share with her the government of Scot- 
land. If they had a son, he was to be, after 
their deaths, King of France and of Scotland 
too. Thus the two crowns would have been 
united. If, on the other hand, they had only 
daughters, the oldest one was to be Queen of 
Scotland only, as the laws of France did not al- 
low a female to inherit the throne. In case they 
had no children, the crown of Scotland was not 
to come into the French family at all, but to 
descend regularly to the next Scotch heir. 

Henry was not satisfied with this entirely, 
for he wanted to secure the union of the Scotch 
and French crowns at all events, whether Mary 
had children or not ; and he persuaded Mary to 
sign some papers with him privately, which he 
thought would secure his purposes, charging 
her not to let the commissioners know that she 
had signed them. He thought it possible that 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 61 

Their contents. Ceremonies. 

he should never have occasion to produce them. 
One of these papers conveyed the crown of Scot- 
land to the King of France absolutely and for- 
ever, in case Mary should die without children. 
Another provided that the Scotch government 
should repay him for the enormous sums he had 
expended upon Mary during her residence in 
France, for her education, her attendants, the 
celebrations and galas which he had provided 
for her, and all the splendid journeys, proces- 
sions, and parades. His motive in all this ex- 
pense had been to unite the crown of Scotland 
to that of France, and he wished to provide that 
if any thing should occur to prevent the execu- 
tion of his plan, he could have all this money 
reimbursed to him again. He estimated the 
amount at a million of pieces of gold. This was 
an enormous sum : it shows on how magnifi 
cent a scale Mary's reception and entertain 
ment in France were managed. 

These preliminary proceedings being settled, 
all Paris, and, in fact, all France, began to pre- 
pare for the marriage celebrations. There were 
to be two great ceremonies connected with the 
occasion. The first was the betrothment, the 
second was the marriage. At the betrothment 
Francis and Mary were to meet in a great pub- 



62 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558 

The betrothal. The Louvre. 

lie hall, and there, in the presence of a smal 
and select assemblage of the lords and ladies of 
the court, and persons of distinction connected 
with the royal family, they were formally and 
solemnly to engage themselves to each other. 
Then, in about a week afterward, they were to 
be married, in the most public manner, in the 
great Cathedral Church of Notre Dame. 

The ceremony of the betrothal was celebrated 
in the palace. The palace then occupied by 
the royal family was the Louvre. It still 
stands, but is no longer a royal dwelling. An- 
other palace, more modern in its structure, and 
called the Tuilleries, has since been built, a lit- 
tle farther from the heart of the city, and in a 
more pleasant situation. The Louvre is square, 
with an open court in the center. This open 
court or area is very large, and is paved like 
the streets. In fact, two great carriage ways 
pass through it, crossing each other at right 
angles in the center, and passing out under 
great arch-ways in the four sides of the build- 
ing. There is a large hall within the palace, 
and in this hall the ceremony of the betrothal 
took place. Francis and Mary pledged theii 
faith to each other with appropriate ceremonies. 
Only a select circle of relations and intimate 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 63 

Notre Dame. View of the interior. 

friends were present on this occasion. The cere- 
mony was concluded in the evening with a ball. 
In the mean time, all Paris was busy with 
preparations for the marriage. The Louvre is 
upon one side of the River Seine, its principal 
front being toward the river, with a broad street 
between. There are no buildings, but only a 
parapet wall on the river side of the street, so 
that there is a fine view of the river and of the 
bridges which cross it, from the palace windows. 
Nearly opposite the Louvre is an island, cover- 
ed with edifices, and connected, by means of 
bridges, with either shore. The great church 
of Notre Dame, where the marriage ceremony 
was to be performed, is upon this island. It 
has two enormous square towers in front, which 
may be seen, rising above all the roofs of the 
city, at a great distance in every direction. 
Before the church is a large open area, where 
vast crowds assemble on any great occasion. 
The interior of the church impresses the mind 
with the sublimest emotions. Two rows of 
enormous columns rise to a great height on 
either hand, supporting the lofty arches of the 
roof. The floor is paved with great flat stones, 
and resounds continually with the footsteps of 
visitors, who walk to and fro, up and down the 



64 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558 

Amphitheater. Covered gallery. 

aisles, looking at the chapels, the monuments, 
the sculptures, the paintings, and the antique 
and grotesque images and carvings. Colored 
light streams through the stained glass of the 
enormous windows, and the tones of the organ, 
and the voices of the priests, chanting the ser- 
vice of the mass, are almost always resounding 
and echoing from the vaulted roof above. 

The words Notre T)am,e mean Our Lady, an 
expression by which the Roman Catholics de- 
note Mary, the mother of Jesus. The church 
of Notre Dame had been for many centuries the 
vast cathedral church of Paris, where all great 
ceremonies of state were performed. On this 
occasion they erected a great amphitheater in 
the area before the church, which would accom- 
modate many thousands of the spectators who 
were to assemble, and enable them to see the 
procession. The bride and bridegroom, and 
their friends, were to assemble in the bishop's 
palace, which was near the Cathedral, and a 
covered gallery was erected, leading from this 
palace to the church, through which the bridal 
party were to enter. They lined this gallery 
throughout with purple velvet, and ornamented 
it in other ways, so as to make the approach to 
the church through it inconceivably splendid. 



L558.] The Great Wedding. 65 

The procession. Mary's . irese. 

Crowds began to collect in the great amphi- 
theater early in the morning. The streets lead- 
ing to Notre Dame were thronged. Every win- 
dow in all the lofty buildings around, and every 
balcony, was full. From ten to twelve the mil- 
itary bands began to arrive, and the long pro- 
cession was formed, the different parties being 
dressed in various picturesque costumes. The 
embassadors of various foreign potentates were 
present, each bearing their appropriate insig- 
nia. The legate of the pope, magnificently 
dressed, had an attendant bearing before him a 
cross of massive gold. The bridegroom, Fran- 
cis the dauphin, followed this legate, and soon 
afterward came Mary, accompanied by the king 
She was dressed in white. Her robe was em- 
broidered with the figure of the lily, and it glit- 
tered with diamonds and ornaments of silver 
As was the custom in those days, her dress 
formed a long train, which was borne by two 
young girls who walked behind her. She wore 
a diamond necklace, with a ring of immense 
value suspended from it, and upon her head 
was a golden coronet, enriched with diamonds 

and gems of inestimable value. 

But the dress and the diamonds which Mary 

wore were not the chief points of attraction to 



66 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558 

Appearance of Mary. Wedding ring. 

the spectators. All who were present on the 
occasion agree in saying that she looked inex 
pressibly beautiful, and that there was an in- 
describable grace and charm in all her move- 
ments and manner, which rilled all who saw her 
with an intoxication of delight. She was art- 
less and unaffected in her manners, and her 
countenance, the expression of which was gen- 
erally placid and calm, was lighted up with the 
animation and interest of the occasion, so as to 
make every body envy the dauphin the posses- 
sion of so beautiful a bride. Queen Catharine, 
and a long train of the ladies of the court, fol- 
lowed in the procession after Mary. Every 
body thought that she felt envious and ill at 
ease. 

The essential thing in the marriage ceremony 
was to be the putting of the wedding ring upon 
Mary's finger, and the pronouncing of the nup- 
tial benediction which was immediately to fol- 
low it. This ceremony was to be performed by 
the Archbishop of Rouen, who was at that time 
the greatest ecclesiastical dignitary in France. 
In order that as many persons as possible might 
witness this, it was arranged that it should be 
performed at the great door of the church, so as 
to be in view of the immense throng which had 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 67 

Movement of the procession. Largess 

assembled in the amphitheater erected in the 
area, and of the multitudes which had taken 
their positions at the windows and balconies, 
and on the house-tops around. The procession, 
accordingly, having entered the church through 
the covered gallery, moved along the aisles and 
came to the great door. Here a royal pavilion 
had been erected, where the bridal party could 
stand in view of the whole assembled multi- 
tude. King Henry had the ring. He gave it to 
the archbishop. The archbishop placed it upon 
Mary's ringer, and pronounced the benediction 
in a loud voice. The usual congratulations fol- 
lowed, and Mary greeted her husband under the 
name of his majesty the King of Scotland. Then 
the whole mighty crowd rent the air with shouts 
and acclamations. 

It was the custom in those days, on such 
great public occasions as this, to scatter money 
among the crowd, that they might scramble 
for it. This was called the king's largess ; and 
the largess was pompously proclaimed by her 
aids before the money was thrown. The throw- 
ing of the money among this immense throng 
produced a scene of indescribable confusion 
The people precipitated themselves upon each 
other in their eagerness to seize the silver and 



68 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558. 



Confusion. The choir. Mass. 



the gold. Some were trampled under foot. 
Some were stripped of their hats and cloaks, or 
had their clothes torn from them. Some faint- 
ed, and were borne out of the scene with infi- 
nite difficulty and danger. At last the people 
clamorously begged the officers to desist from 
throwing any more money, for fear that the 
most serious and fatal consequences might 
ensue. 

In the mean time, the bridal procession re- 
turned mto the church, and, advancing up the 
center between the lofty columns, they came to 
a place called the choir, which is in the heart 
of the church, and is inclosed by screens of 
carved and sculptured work. It is in the choir 
that congregations assemble to be present at 
mass and other religious ceremonies. Mova- 
ble seats are placed here on ordinary occasions, 
but at the time of this wedding the place was 
fitted up with great splendor. Here mass was 
performed in the presence of the bridal party. 
Mass is a solemn ceremony conducted by the 
priests, in which they renew, or think they re- 
new, the sacrifice of Christ, accompanied with 
offerings of incense, and other acts of adoration, 
and the chanting of solemn hymns of praise. 

At the close of these services the procession 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 69 

Return of the procession. Collation. Ball 

moved again down the church, and, issuing forth 
at the great entrance, it passed around upon a 
spacious platform, where it could be seen to ad- 
vantage by all the spectators. Mary was the 
center to which all eyes were turned. She 
v moved along, the very picture of grace and beau- 
ty, the two young girls who followed her bear- 
ing her train. The procession, after completing 
its circuit, returned to the church, and thence, 
through the covered gallery, it moved back to 
the bishop's palace. Here the company partook 
of a grand collation. After the collation there 
was a ball, but the ladies were too much em- 
barrassed with their magnificent dresses to be 
able to dance, and at five o'clock the royal fam- 
ily returned to their home. Mary and Queen 
Catharine went together in a sort of palanquin, 
borne by men, high officers of state walking on 
each side. The king and the dauphin followed 
on horseback, with a large company in their 
train ; but the streets were every where so 
crowded with eager spectators that it was with 
extreme difficulty that they were able to make 
their way. 

The palace to which the party went to spend 
the evening was fitted up and illuminated in the 
most splendid manner, and a variety of most 



70 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558 

Evening's entertainments. A tournament. 

curious entertainments had been contrived for 
the amusement of the company. There were 
twelve artificial horses, made to move by in- 
ternal mechanism, and splendidly caparisoned. 
The children of the company, the little princes 
and dukes, mounted these horses and rode 
around the arena. Then came in a company 
of men dressed like pilgrims, each of whom re- 
cited a poem written in honor of the occasion. 
After this was an exhibition of galleys, or boats, 
upon a little sea. These boats were large enough 
to bear up two persons. There were two seats 
in each, one of which was occupied by a young 
gentleman. As the boats advanced, one by one, 
each gentleman leaped to the shore, or to what 
represented the shore, and, going among the com- 
pany, selected a lady and bore her off to his 
boat, and then, seating her in the vacant chair, 
took his place by her side, and continued his 
voyage. Francis was in one of the boats, and 
he, on coming to the shore, took Mary for his 
companion. 

The celebrations and festivities of this famous 
wedding continued for fifteen days. They closed 
with a grand tournament. A tournament was 
a very magnificent spectacle in those days. A 
field was inclosed, in which kings, and princes. 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 71 

Rank of the combatants. Lances. 

and knights, fully armed, and mounted on war- 
horses, tilted against each other with lances and 
blunted swords. Ladies of high rank were pres- 
ent as spectators and judges, and one was ap- 
pointed at each tournament to preside, and to dis- 
tribute the honors and rewards to those who 
were most successful in the contests. The great- 
est possible degree of deference and honor was 
paid to the ladies by all the knights on these 
occasions. Once, at a tournament in London, 
arranged by a king of England, the knights and 
noblemen rode in a long procession to the field, 
each led by a lady by means of a silver chain. 
It was a great honor to be admitted to a share 
in these contests, as none but persons of the high- 
est rank Were allowed to take a part in them. 
Whenever one was to be held, invitations were 
sent to all the courts of Europe, and kings, 
queens, and sovereign princes came to witness 
the spectacle. 

The horsemen who contended on these occa- 
sions carried long lances, blunt, indeed, at the 
end, so that they could not penetrate the armor 
of the antagonist at which they Were aimed, 
but yet of such weight that the momentum of 
the blow was sometimes sufficient to unhorso 
him. The great object of every combatant was. 



72 Mary Queen of Scots. [1558. 

Rapid evolutions. Tourner. Francis's feebleness 

accordingly, to protect himself from this danger. 
He must turn his horse suddenly, and avoid 
the lance of his antagonist ; or he must strike it 
with his own, and thus parry the blow : or if he 
must encounter it, he was to brace himself firm- 
ly in his saddle, and resist its impulse with all 
the strength that he could command. It re- 
quired, therefore, great strength and great dex- 
terity to excel in a tournament. In fact, the ra- 
pidity of the evolutions which it required gave 
origin to the name, the word tournament being 
formed from a French word* which signifies to 
turn. 

The princes and noblemen who were present 
at the wedding all joined in the tournament 
except the poor bridegroom, who was too weak 
and feeble in body, and too timid in mind, for 
any such rough and warlike exercises. Fran- 
cis was very plain and unprepossessing in coun- 
tenance, and shy and awkward in his manners. 
His health had always been very infirm, and 
though his rank was very high, as he was the 
heir apparent to what was then the greatest 
throne in Europe, every body thought that in 
all other respects he was unfit to be the hus- 

* Tourner. 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 73 

Mary's love for him. He retires to the country. 

band of such a beautiful and accomplished prin- 
cess as Mary. He was timid, shy, and anxious 
and unhappy in disposition. He knew that the 
gay and warlike spirits around him could not 
look upon him with respect, and he felt a pain- 
ful sense of his inferiority. 

Mary, however, loved him. It was a love, 
perhaps, mingled with pity. She did not as- 
sume an air of superiority over him, but en- 
deavored to encourage him, to lead him for- 
ward, to inspire him with confidence and hope, 
and to make him feel his own strength and val- 
ue. She was herself of a sedate and thought- 
ful character, and with all her intellectual su- 
periority, she was characterized by that femi- 
nine gentleness of spirit, that disposition to fol- 
low and to yield rather than to govern, that de- 
sire to be led and to be loved rather than to 
lead and be admired, which constitute the high- 
est charm of woman. 

Francis was glad when the celebrations, 
tournament and all, were well over. He set 
off from Paris with his young bride to one of 
his country residences, where he could live, for 
a while, in peace and quietness. Mary was re- 
leased, in some degree, from the restraints, and 
formalities, and rules of etiquette of King Hen- 



74 Mary Quei-jn of Scots. 


[1558 


Rejoicings in Scotland. Mods Meg. 


Large ball. 



ry's court, and was, to some extent, her own 
mistress, though still surrounded with many- 
attendants, and much parade and splendor. 
The young couple thus commenced the short 
period of their married life. They were cer- 
tainly a very young couple, being both of them 
under sixteen. 

The rejoicings on account of the marriage 
Were not confined to Paris. All Scotland cele- 
brated the event with much parade. The Cath- 
olic party there were pleased with the final con- 
summation of the event, and all the people, 
in fact, joined, more or less, in commemora- 
ting the marriage of their queen. There is in 
the Castle of Edinburgh, on a lofty platform 
which overlooks a broad valley, a monstrous 
gun, several centuries old, which was formed 
of bars of iron secured by great iron hoops. 
The balls which this gun carried are more than 
a foot in diameter. The name of this enormous 
piece of ordnance is Mons Meg. It is now dis- 
abled, having been burst, many years ago, and 
injured beyond the possibility of repair. There 
were great rejoicings in Edinburgh at the time 
of Mary's marriage, and from some old accounts 
which still remain at the castle, it appears that 
ten shillings were paid to some men for moving 



1558.] The Great Wedding. 75 

Celebration of Mary's marriage. 

up Mons Meg to the embrasure of the battery, 
and for rinding and bringing back her shot after 
she was discharged ; by which it appears that 
firing Mons Meg was a part of the celebration 
by which the people of Edinburgh honored the 
marriage of their queen. 



76 Mary Queen of Scots. [1559. 

Mary's love for Francis. How to cherish the passion. 



Chapter IV. 
Misfortunes. 

IT was said in the last chapter that Mary 
loved her husband, infirm and feeble as he 
was both in body and in mind. This love was 
probably the effect, quite as much as it was the 
cause, of the kindness which she showed him. 
As we are very apt to hate those whom we have 
injured, so we almost instinctively love those 
who have in any way become the objects of our 
kindness and care. If any wife, therefore, wish- 
es for the pleasure of loving her husband, or 
which is, perhaps, a better supposition, if any 
husband desires the happiness of loving his wife, 
conscious that it is a pleasure which he does 
not now enjoy, let him commence by making 
her the object of his kind attentions and care, 
and love will spring up in the heart as a con- 
sequence of the kind of action of which it is 
more commonly the cause. 

About a year passed away, when at length 
another great celebration took place in Paris, to 
honor the marriages of some other members of 



1559.] Misfortunes. 77 

Grand tournament. Henry's pride. 

King Henry's family. One of them was Fran- 
cis's oldest sister. A grand tournament was 
arranged on this occasion too. The place for 
this tournament was where the great street of 
St. Antoine now lies, and which may be found 
on any map of Paris. A very large concourse 
of kings and nobles from all the courts of Eu- 
rope were present. King Henry, magnificently 
dressed, and mounted on a superb war-horse, 
was a very prominent figure in all the parades 
of the occasion, though the actual contests and 
trials of skill which took place were between 
younger princes and knights, King Henry and 
the ladies being generally only spectators and 
judges. He, however, took a part himself on 
one or two occasions, and received great ap- 
plause. 

At last, at the end of the third day, just as 
the tournament was to be closed, King Henry 
was riding around the field, greatly excited with 
the pride and pleasure which so magnificent a 
spectacle was calculated to awaken, when he 
saw two lances still remaining which had not 
been broken. The idea immediately seized him 
of making one more exhibition of his own power 
and dexterity in such contests. He took one of 
the lances, and, directing a high officer who was 



78 Mary Queen of Scots. [1559. 

&n encounter. The helmet. The vizor 

riding near him to take the other, he challenged 
him to a trial of skill. The name of this offi- 
cer was Montgomery. Montgomery at first de- 
clined, being unwilling to contend with his king. 
The king insisted. Queen Catharine begged 
that he would not contend again. Accidents 
sometimes happened, she knew, in these rough 
encounters ; and, at any rate, it terrified her to 
see her husband exposed to such dangers. The 
other lords and ladies, and Francis and Queen 
Mary particularly, joined in these expostula- 
tions. But Henry was inflexible. There was 
no danger, and, smiling at their fears, he com- 
manded Montgomery to arm himself with his 
lance and take his position. 

The spectators looked on in breathless si- 
lence. The two horsemen rode toward each 
other, each pressing his horse forward to his 
utmost speed, and as they passed, each aimed 
his lance at the head and breast of the other. 
It was customary on such occasions to wear a 
helmet, with a part called a vizor in front, which 
could be raised on ordinary occasions, or let down 
in moments of danger like this, to cover and 
protect the eyes. Of course this part of the 
armor was weaker than the rest, and it hap- 
pened that Montgomery's lance struck here — 



1559.] Misfortunes. 79 

King Henry wounded. His death. The mournful marriage, 

was shivered — -and a splinter of it penetrated 
the vizor and inflicted a wound upon Henry, on 
the head, just over the eye. Henry's horse 
went on. The spectators observed that the 
rider reeled and trembled in his seat. The 
whole assembly were in consternation. The ex- 
citement of pride and pleasure was every where 
turned into extreme anxiety and alarm. 

They nocked about Henry's horse, and helped 
the king to dismount. He said it was nothing. 
They took off his helmet, and found large drops 
of blood issuing from the wound. They bore 
him to his palace. He had the magnanimity to 
say that Montgomery must not be blamed for 
this result, as he was himself responsible for it 
entirely. He lingered eleven days, and then 
died. This was in July, 1559. 

One of the marriages which this unfortunate 
tournament had been intended to celebrate, that 
of Elizabeth, the king's daughter, had already 
taken place, having been performed a day or two 
before the king was wounded; and it was de- 
cided, after Henry was wounded, that the oth- 
er must proceed, as there were great reasons of 
state against any postponement of it. This sec- 
ond marriage was that of Margaret, his sister. 
The ceremony in her case was performed in a 



SO Mary Queen of Scjots. [1559. 

The dauplin becomes king. Catharine superseded. 

silent and private manner, at night, by torch- 
light, in the chapel of the palace, while her broth- 
er was dying. The services were interrupted 
by her sobs and tears. 

Notwithstanding the mental and bodily fee- 
bleness which seemed to characterize the dau- 
phin, Mary's husband, who now, by the death 
of his father, became King of France, the event 
of his accession to the throne seemed to awaken 
his energies, and arouse him to animation and 
effort. He was sick himself, and in his bed, in 
a palace called the Tournelles, when some offi- 
cers of state were ushered into his apartment, 
and, kneeling before him, saluted him as king. 
This was the first announcement of his father's 
death. He sprang from his bed, exclaiming at 
once that he was well. It is one of the sad con- 
sequences of hereditary greatness and power 
that a son must sometimes rejoice at the death 
of his father. 

It was Francis's duty to repair at once to the 
royal palace of the Louvre, with Mary, who 
was now Queen of France as well as of Scot- 
land, to receive the homage of the various estates 
of the realm. Catharine was, of course, now 
queen dowager. Mary, the child whom she 
had so long looked upon with feelings of jeal- 



1559.] Misfortunes. 81 

Mary's gentleness. Coronation of Francis. 

ousy and envy was, from this time, to take 
her place as queen. It was very humiliating 
to Catharine to assume the position of a second 
and an inferior in the presence of one whom she 
had so long been accustomed to direct and to 
command. She yielded, however, with a good 
grace, though she seemed dejected and sad. 
As they were leaving the Tournelles, she stop- 
ped to let Mary go before her, saying, " Pass 
on, madame ; it is your turn to take precedence 
now." Mary went before her, but she stopped 
in her turn, with a sweetness of disposition so 
characteristic of her, to let Queen Catharine 
enter first into the carriage which awaited them 
at the door. 

Francis, though only sixteen, was entitled to 
assume the government himself. He went to 
Rheims, a town northeast of Paris, where is an 
abbey, which is the ancient place of coronation 
for the kings of France. Here he was crowned. 
He appointed his ministers, and evinced, in his 
management and in his measures, more energy 
and decision than it was supposed he possessed. 
He himself and Mary were now, together, on 
the summit of earthly grandeur. They had 
many political troubles and cares which can 
not be related here, but Mary's life was com- 
6 



82 Mary Queen of Scots. [1559 

Francis's health declines. Superstition of the people 

paratively peaceful and happy, the pleasures 
which she enjoyed being greatly enhanced by 
the mutual affection which existed between her- 
self and her husband. 

Though he was small in stature, and very 
unprepossessing in appearance and manners, 
Francis still evinced in his government a con- 
siderable degree of good judgment and of ener- 
gy. His health, however, gradually declined. 
He spent much of his time in traveling, and 
was often dejected and depressed. One circum- 
stance made him feel very unhappy. The peo- 
ple of many of the villages through which he 
passed, being in those days very ignorant and 
superstitious, got a rumor into circulation that 
the king's malady was such that he could only 
be cured by being bathed in the blood of young 
children. They imagined that he was travel- 
ing to obtain such a bath ; and, wherever he 
came, the people fled, mothers eagerly carry- 
ing off their children from this impending dan- 
ger. The king did not understand the came 
of his being thus shunned. They concealed it 
from him, knowing that it would give him pain. 
He knew only the fact, and it made him very 
sad to find himself the object of this mysterious 
and unaccountable aversion. 



1559.] Misfortunes. 83 

Commotions in Scotland. Sickness of the queen regent, 

In the mean time, while these occurrences 
had been taking place in France, Mary's moth- 
er, the queen dowager of Scotland, had been 
made queen regent of Scotland after her re- 
turn from France ; but she experienced infinite 
trouble and difficulty in managing the affairs 
of the country. The Protestant party became 
very strong, and took up arms against her gov- 
ernment. The English sent them aid. She, 
on the other hand, with the Catholic interest to 
support her, defended her power as well as she 
could, and called for help from France to sus- 
tain her. And thus the country which she was 
so ambitious to govern, was involved by her 
management in the calamities and sorrows of 
civil war. 

In the midst of this contest she died. Dur- 
ing her last sickness she sent for some of the 
leaders of the Psotestant party, and did all that 
she could to soothe and conciliate their minds. 
She mourned the calamities and sufferings 
which the civil war had brought upon the 
country, and urged the Protestants to do all in 
their power, after her death, to heal these dis- 
sensions and restore peace. She also exhorted 
them to remember their obligations of loyalty 
and obedience to their absent queen, and to sus- 



84 Mary Queen of Scots. [1560 



Death of Mary's mother. Illness of Francis. 

tain and strengthen her government by every 
means in their power. She died, and after her 
death the war was brought to a close by a 
treaty of peace, in which the French and En- 
glish governments joined with the government 
of Scotland to settle the points in dispute, and 
immediately afterward the troops of both these 
nations were withdrawn. The death of the 
queen regent was supposed to have been caused 
by the pressure of anxiety which the cares of 
her government imposed. Her body was car- 
ried home to France, and interred in the royal 
abbey at Rheims. 

The death of Mary's mother took place in the 
summer of 1560. The next December Mary 
was destined to meet with a much heavier af- 
fliction. Her husband, King Francis, in addi- 
tion to other complaints, had been suffering for 
some time from pain and disease in the ear 
One day, when he was preparing to go out hunt 
ing, he was suddenly seized with a fainting fit, 
and was soon found to be in great danger. He 
continued some days very ill. He was con- 
vinced himself that he could not recover, and 
began to make arrangements for his approach- 
ing end. As he drew near to the close of his 
life, he was more and more deeply impressed 



1560.] Misfortunes. 85 

His last moments and death. Mary a young widow. 

with a sense of Mary's kindness and love. He 
mourned very much his approaching separation 
from her. He sent for his mother, Queen Cath- 
arine, to come to his bedside, and begged that 
she would treat Mary kindly, for his sake, after 
he was gone. 

Mary was overwhelmed with grief at the ap- 
proaching death of her husband. She knew at 
once what a great change it would make in her 
condition. She would lose immediately her 
rank and station. Queen Catharine would 
again come into power, as queen regent, during 
the minority of the next heir. All her friends, 
of the family of Guise, would be removed from 
office, and she herself would become a mere 
guest and stranger in the land of which she 
had been the queen. But nothing could arrest 
the progress of the disease under which her hus- 
band was sinking. He died, leaving Mary a 
disconsolate widow of seventeen. 

The historians of those days say that Queen 
Catharine was much pleased at the death of 
Francis her son. It restored her to rank and 
power. Mary was again beneath her, and in 
some degree subject to her will. All Mary's 
friends were removed from their high stations, 
and others, hostile to her family, were put into 



86 Mary Queen of Scots. [1560. 

Embassadors from Scotland. Mary's unwillingness to leave France. 

their places. Mary soon found herself unhappy 
at court, and she accordingly removed to a cas- 
tle at a considerable distance from Paris to the 
west, near the city of Orleans. The people of 
Scotland wished her to return to her native 
land. Both the great parties sent embassadors 
to her to ask her to return, each of them .urging 
her to adopt such measures on her arrival in 
Scotland as should favor their cause. Queen 
Catharine, too, who was still jealous of Mary's 
influence, and of the admiration and love which 
her beauty and the loveliness of her character 
inspired, intimated to her that perhaps it would 
be better for her now to leave France and return 
to her own land. 

Mary was very unwilling to go. She loved 
France. She knew very little of Scotland. She 
was very young when she left it, and the few 
recollections which she had of the country were 
confined to the lonely island of Inchmahome 
and the Castle of Stirling. Scotland was in a 
cold and inhospitable climate, accessible only 
through stormy and dangerous seas, and it seem- 
ed to her that going there was going into exile. 
Besides, she dreaded to undertake personally to 
administer a government whose cares and anx- 
ieties had been so great as to carry her mother 
to the grave. 



1560.J Misfortunes. 8? 

Mary in mourning. She is called the White Queen. 

Mary, however, found that it was in vain for 
her to resist the influences which pressed upon 
her the necessity of returning to her native land. 
She wandered about during the spring and sum- 
mer after her husband's death, spending her 
time in various palaces and abbeys, and at 
length she began to prepare for her return to 
Scotland. The same gentleness and loveliness 
of character which she had exhibited in her 
prosperous fortunes, shone still more conspicu- 
ously now in her hours of sorrow. Sometimes 
she appeared in public, in certain ceremonies 
of state. She was then dressed in mourning — 
in white — according to the custom in royal fam- 
ilies in those days, her dark hair covered by a 
delicate crape veil. Her beauty, softened and 
chastened by her sorrows, made a strong im- 
pression upon all who saw her. 

She appeared so frequently, and attracted so 
much attention in her white mourning, that she 
began to be known among the people as the 
White Queen. Every body wanted to see her. 
They admired her beauty ; they were impress- 
ed with the romantic interest of her history ; 
fchey pitied her sorrows. She mourned her hus- 
band's death with deep and unaffected grief. 
She invented a device and motto for a seal, ap- 



88 Mary Queen of Scots. [1560. 

A device. Mary's employments Her beautiful hands. 

propriate to the occasion : it was a figure of the 
liquorice-tree, every part of which is useless ex- 
cept the root, which, of course, lies beneath the 
surface of the earth. Underneath was the 
inscription, in Latin, My treasure is in the 
ground. The expression is much more beau- 
tiful in the Latin than can be expressed in any- 
English words. # 

Mary did not, however, give herself up to 
sullen and idle grief, but employed herself in 
various studies and pursuits, in order to soothe 
and solace her grief by useful occupation. She 
read Latin authors ; she studied poetry ; she 
composed. She paid much attention to music, 
and charmed those who were in her company 
by the sweet tones of her voice and her skillful 
performance upon an instrument. The histo- 
rians even record a description of the fascina- 
ting effect produced by the graceful movements 
of her beautiful hand. Whatever she did or 
said seemed to carry with it an inexpressible 
charm. 

Before she set out on her return to Scotland, 
she went to pay a visit to her grandmother, the 
same lady whom her mother had gone to see 
in her castle, ten years before, on her return to 

* Dulce meum terra tegit. 



1560.J Misfortunes. 89 

Melancholy visit. Mary returns to Paris. Jealousy. 

Scotland after her visit to Mary. During this 
ten years the unhappy mourner had made no 
change in respect to her symbols of grief. The 
apartments of her palace were still hung with 
black. Her countenance wore the same ex- 
pression of austerity and woe. Her attendants 
were trained to pay to her every mark of the 
most profound deference in all their approaches 
to her. No sounds of gayety or pleasure were 
to be heard, but a profound stillness and solem- 
nity reigned continually throughout the gloomy 
mansion. 

Not long before the arrangements were com- 
pleted for Mary's return to Scotland, she revis- 
ited Paris, where she was received with great 
marks of attention and honor. She was now 
eighteen or nineteen years of age, in the bloom 
of her beauty, and the monarch of a powerful 
kingdom, to which she was about to return, and 
many of the young princes of Europe began to 
aspire to the honor of her hand. Through these 
and other influences, she was the object of much 
attention ; while, on the other hand, Queen 
Catharine, and the party in power at the French 
court, were envious and jealous of her popular- 
ity, and did a great deal to mortify and vex her. 

The enemy, however, whom Mary had most 



90 Mary Queen of Scots. [1560 

Queen Elizabeth. Her character. Henry VIIL 

to fear, was her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of En- 
gland. Queen Elizabeth was a maiden lady, 
now nearly thirty years of age. She was in all 
respects extremely different from Mary. She 
was a zealous Protestant, and very suspicious 
and watchful in respect to Mary, on account of 
her Catholic connections and faith. She was 
very plain in person, and unprepossessing in 
manners. She was, however, intelligent and 
shrewd, and was governed by calculations and 
policy in all that she did. The people by whom 
she was surrounded admired her talents and 
feared her power, but nobody loved her. She 
had many good qualities as a monarch, but none 
considered as a woman. 

Elizabeth was somewhat envious of her cous- 
in Mary's beauty, and of her being such an ob- 
ject of interest and affection to all who knew 
her. But she had a far more serious and per- 
manent cause of alienation from her than per- 
sonal envy. It was this : Elizabeth's father, 
King Henry VIIL, had, in succession, several 
wives, and there had been a question raised 
about the legality of his marriage with Eliza- 
beth's mother. Parliament decided at one time 
that this marriage was not valid; at another 
time, subsequently, they decided that it wag 




Portrait of Queen Elizabeth. 



1560.] Misfortunes. 93 

Elizabeth's claim to the throne. Mary's claim. The coat of arms. 

This difference in the two decisions was not 
owing so much to a change of sentiment in the 
persons who voted, as to a change in the ascend- 
ency of the parties by which the decision was 
controlled. If the marriage were valid, then 
Elizabeth was entitled to the English crown. 
If it were not valid, then she was not entitled 
to it : it belonged to the next heir. Now it 
happened that Mary Queen of Scots was the 
next heir. Her grandmother on the father's 
side was an English princess, and through her 
Mary had a just title to the crown, if Queen 
Elizabeth's title was annulled. 

Now, while Mary was in France, during the 
lifetime of King Henry, Francis's father, he 
and the members of the family of Guise ad- 
vanced Mary's claim to the British crown, and 
denied that of Elizabeth. They made a coat 
of arms, in which the arms of France, and Scot- 
land, and England were combined, and had it 
engraved on Mary's silver plate. On one great 
occasion, they had this symbol displayed con- 
spicuously over the gateway of a town where 
Mary was making a public entry. The En- 
glish embassador, who was present, made this, 
and the other acts of the same kind, known to 
Elizabeth, and she was greatly incensed at 



94 Mary Queen of Scots. [1560. 

Elizabeth offended and alarmed. N The Catholic party 

them. She considered Mary as plotting trea- 
sonably against her power, and began to con- 
trive plans to circumvent and thwart her. 

Nor was Elizabeth wholly unreasonable in 
this. Mary, though personally a gentle and 
peaceful woman, yet in her teens, was ver\ 
formidable to Elizabeth as an opposing claim- 
ant of the crown. All the Catholics in France 
and in Scotland would naturally take Mary's 
side. Then, besides this, there was a large 
Catholic party in England, who would be strong- 
ly disposed to favor any plan which should give 
them a Catholic monarch. Elizabeth was. 
therefore, very justly alarmed at such a claim 
on the part of her cousin. It threatened not 
only to expose her to the aggressions of foreign 
foes, but also to internal commotions and dan- 
gers, in her own dominions. 

The chief responsibility for bringing forward 
this claim must rest undoubtedly, not on Mary 
herself, but on King Henry of France and the 
other French princes, who first put it forward, 
Mary, however, herself, was not entirely pass- 
ive in the affair. She liked to consider her- 
self as entitled to the English crown. She had 
a device for a seal, a very favorite one with her, 
which expressed this claim. It contained two 



1560.] Misfortunes. 95 

A. device. Treaty of Edinburgh. The safe-conduct 

crowns, with a motto in Latin below which 
meant, " A third awaits me." Elizabeth knew 
all these things, and she held Mary accounta- 
ble for all the anxiety and alarm which this 
dangerous claim occasioned her. 

At the peace which was made in Scotland 
between the French and English forces and the 
Scotch, by the great treaty of Edinburgh which 
has been already described, it was agreed that 
Mary should relinquish all claim to the crown 
of England. This treaty was brought to France 
for Mary to ratify it, but she declined. What- 
ever rights she might have to the English 
crown, she refused to surrender them. Things 
remained in this state until the time arrived for 
her return to her native land, and then, fearing 
that perhaps Elizabeth might do something to 
intercept her passage, she applied to her for a 
safe-conduct ; that is, a writing authorizing her 
to pass safely and without hinderance through 
the English dominions, whether land or sea. 
Queen Elizabeth returned word through her 
embassador in Paris, whose name was Throck- 
morton, that she could not give her any such 
safe-conduct, because she had refused to ratify 
the treaty of Edinburgh. 

When this answer was communicated to 



96 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561. 

Elizabeth refuses the safe-conduct. Mary's speech. 

Mary, she felt deeply wounded by it. She sent 
all the attendants away, that she might express 
herself to Throckmorton without reserve. She 
told him that it seemed to her very hard that 
her cousin was disposed to prevent her return 
to her native land. As to her claim upon the 
English crown, she said that advancing it was 
not her plan, but that of her husband and his 
father ; and that now she could not properly 
renounce it, whatever its validity might be, till 
she could have opportunity to return to Scot- 
land and consult with her government there, 
since it affected not her personally alone, but 
the public interests of Scotland. " And now," 
she continued, in substance, " I am sorry that 
I asked such a favor of her. I have no need to 
ask it, for I am sure I have a right to return 
from France to my own country without ask- 
ing permission of any one. You have often 
told me that the queen wished to be on friendly 
terms with me, and that it was your opinion 
that to be friends would be best for us both 
But now I see that she is not of your mind, 
but is disposed to treat me in an unkind and 
unfriendly manner, while she knows that I am 
her equal in rank, though I do not pretend to 
be her equal in abilities and experience. Well, 



1561.] Misfortunes. ' 97 

Mary's true nobility of soul. Sympathy with her 

she may do as she pleases. If my preparations 
were not so far advanced, perhaps I should give 
up the voyage But I am resolved to go. I 
hope the winds will prove favorable, and carry 
me away from her shores. If they carry me 
upon them, and I fall into her hands, she may 
make what disposal of me she will. If I lose 
my life, I shall esteem it no great loss, for it is 
now little else than a burden." 

How strongly this speech expresses " that 
mixture of melancholy and dignity, of woman- 
ly softness and noble decision, which pervaded 
her character." There is a sort of gentleness 
even in her anger, and a certain indescribable 
womanly charm in the workings of her mind, 
which cause aU who read her story, while they 
can not but think that Elizabeth was right, to 
sympathize wholly with Mary. 

Throckmorton, at one of his conversations 
with Mary, took occasion to ask her respecting 
her religious views, as Elizabeth wished to know 
how far she was fixed and committed in her at- 
tachment to the Catholic faith. Mary said that 
she was born and had been brought up a Cath- 
olic, and that she should remain so as long as 
she lived. She would not interfere, she said, 
with her subjects adopting such form of religion 
1 



98 * Mary Queen op Scots. [1561. 

Mary's religions faith. Her frankness and candor. 

as they might prefer, but for herself she should 
not change. If she should change, she said, 
she should justly lose the confidence of her peo- 
ple ; for, if . they saw that she was light and 
fickle on that subject, they could not rely upon 
her in respect to any other. She did not pro- 
fess to be able to argue, herself, the questions 
of difference, but she was not wholly uninform- 
ed in respect to them, as she had often heard 
the points discussed by learned men, and had 
found nothing to lead her to change her ground. 
It is impossible for any reader, whether Prot- 
estant or Catholic, not to admire the frankness 
and candor, the honest conscientiousness, the 
courage, and, at the same time, womanly mod* 
esty and propriety which characterize this reply 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 99 

Calais. Artificial piers and breakwaters 



Chapter V. 
Return to Scotland. 

MARY was to sail from the port of Calais. 
Calais is on the northern coast of France, 
opposite to Dover in England, these towns being 
on opposite sides of the Straits of Dover, where 
the channel between England and France is 
very narrow. Still, the distance is so great that 
the land on either side is ordinarily not visible 
on the other. There is no good natural harbor 
at Calais, nor, in fact, at any other point on the 
French coast. The French have had to supply 
the deficiency by artificial piers and breakwa- 
ters. There are several very capacious and ex- 
cellent harbors on the English side. This may 
have been one cause, among others, of the great 
naval superiority which England has attained. 
When Queen Elizabeth found that Mary 
was going to persevere in her intention of re- 
turning to her native land, she feared that she 
might, after her arrival in Scotland, and after get- 
ting established in power there, form a scheme 



100 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561 

Queen Elizabeth's plan. Throckmorton. 

for making war upon her dominions, and at- 
tempt to carry into effect her claim upon the 
English crown. She wished to prevent this. 
Would it be prudent to intercept Mary upon her 
passage? She reflected on this subject with 
the cautious calculation which formed so strik- 
ing a part of her character, and felt in doubt. 
Her taking Mary a prisoner, and confining her 
a captive in her own land, might incense Queen 
Catharine, who was now regent of France, and 
also awaken a general resentment in Scotland, 
so as to bring upon her the hostility of those 
two countries, and thus, perhaps, make more 
mischief than the securing of Mary's person 
would prevent. 

She accordingly, as a previous step, sent to 
Throckmorton, her embassador in France, di- 
recting him to have an interview with Queen 
Catharine, and ascertain how far she would feel 
disposed to take Mary's part. Throckmorton 
did this. Queen Catharine gave no direct re- 
ply. She said that both herself and the young 
king wished well to Elizabeth, and to Mary too ; 
that it was her desire that the two queens might 
be on good terms with each other ; that she was 
a friend to them both, and should not take & 
part against either of them. 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 



103 



Elizabeth's plans. Throckmorton baffled 

This was all that Queen Elizabeth could ex- 
pect, and she formed her plans for intercepting 
Mary on her passage. She sent to Throck- 
morton, asking him to find out, if he could, what 
port Queen Mary was to sail from, and to send 
her word. She then gave orders to her naval 
commanders to assemble as many ships as they 
could, and hold them in readiness to sail into 
the seas between England and France, for the 
purpose of exterminating the pirates, which 
she said had lately become very numerous there. 

Throckmorton took occasion, in a conversa- 
tion which he had with Mary soon after this, 
to inquire from what port she intended to sail ; 
but she did not give him the information. She 
suspected his motive, and merely said, in reply 
to his question, that she hoped the wind would 
prove favorable for carrying her away as far as 
possible from the English coast, whatever might 
be the point from which she should take her 
departure. Throckmorton then endeavored to 
find out the arrangements of the voyage by oth- 
er means, but without much success. He wrote 
to Elizabeth that he thought Mary would sail 
either from Havre or Calais ; that she would go 
eastward, along the shore of the Continent, by 
Flanders and Holland, till she had gained a con- 



100 Mary Queen op Scots. [1561 

Throckmorton s advice. Queen Catharine's farewell. Escort. 

siderable distance from the English coast, and 
then would sail north along the eastern shores 
of the German Ocean. He advised that Eliz- 
abeth should send spies to Calais and to Havre, 
and perhaps to other French ports, to watch 
there, and to let her know whenever they ob- 
served any appearances of preparations for Ma- 
ry's departure. 

In the mean time, as the hour for Mary's 
farewell to Paris and all its scenes of luxury 
and splendor, drew near, those who had loved 
her were drawn more closely to her in heart than 
ever, and those who had been envious and jeal- 
ous began to relent, and to look upon her 
with feelings of compassion and of kind regard. 
Queen Catharine treated her with extreme kind- 
ness during the last few days of her stay, and 
she accompanied her for some distance on her 
journey, with every manifestation of sincere af- 
fection and good will. She stopped, at length, 
at St. Germain, and there, with many tears, 
she bade her gentle daughter-in-law a long and 
last farewell. 

Many princes and nobles, especially of the 
family of Guise, Mary's relatives, accompanied 
her through the whole journey. They formed 
quite a long cavalcade, and attracted great at- 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 103 

Embarkation. Spectators. Unfortunate accident 

tention in all the towns and districts through 
which they passed. They traveled slowly, but 
at length arrived at Calais, where they waited 
nearly a week to complete the arrangements 
for Mary's embarkation. At length the day 
arrived for her to set sail. A large concourse 
of spectators assembled to witness the scene. 
Four ships had been provided for the transpor- 
tation of the party and their effects. Two of 
these were galleys. They were provided with 
banks of oars, and large crews of rowers, by 
means of which the vessels could be propelled 
when the wind failed. The two other vessels 
were merely vessels of burden, to carry the fur- 
niture and other effects of the passengers. 

Many of the queen's friends were to accom- 
pany her to Scotland. The four Maries were 
among them. She bade those that were to re- 
main behind farewell, and prepared to embark 
on board the royal galley. Her heart was very 
sad. . Just at this time, a vessel which was com- 
ing in struck against the pier, in consequence 
of a heavy sea which was rolling in, and of the 
distraction of the seamen occasioned by Mary's 
embarkation. The vessel which struck was so 
injured by the concussion that it filled imme- 
diately and sank. Most of the seamen on board 



104 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561 

Mary's farewell to France. Her deep emotion. 

were drowned. This accident produced great 
excitement and contusion. Mary looked upon 
the scene from the deck of her vessel, which 
was now slowly moving from the shore. It 
alarmed her, and impressed her mind with a 
sad and mournful sense of the dangers of the 
elements to whose mercy she was now to be 
committed for many days. " What an unhap- 
py omen is this !" she exclaimed. She then 
went to the stern of tjie ship, looked back at 
the shore, then knelt down, and, covering her 
face with her hands, sobbed aloud. " Farewell, 
France !" she exclaimed : "I shall never, never 
see thee more." Presently, when her emotions 
for a moment subsided, she would raise her 
eyes, and take another view of the slowly-re- 
ceding shore, and then exclaim again, "Fare- 
well, my beloved France ! farewell ! farewell !" 
She remained in this position, suffering this 
anguish, for five hours, when it began to grow 
dark, and she could no longer see the shore. 
She then rose, saying that her beloved country 
was gone from her sight forever. " The dark- 
ness, like a thick veil, hides thee from my sight, 
and I shall see thee no more. So farewell, be- 
loved land ! farewell forever !" She left her 
place at the stern, but she would not leave the 



if56JL] Return to Scotland. 107 

Mary's first night on board. Her reluctance to leave France. 

deck. She made them bring up a bed, and 
place it for her there, near the stern. They 
tried to induce her to go into the cabin, or at 
least to take some supper ; but she would not. 
She lay down upon her bed. She charged the 
helmsman to awaken her at the dawn, if the 
land was in sight when the dawn should ap- 
pear. She then wept herself to sleep. 

During the night the air was calm, and the 
vessels in which Mary and her company had 
embarked made such small progress, being 
worked only by the oars, that the land came 
into view again with the gray light of the morn- 
ing. The helmsman awoke Mary, and the sight 
of the shore renewed her anguish and tears. 
She said that she could not go. She wished 
that Elizabeth's ships would come in sight, so 
as to compel her squadron to return. But no 
English fleet appeared. On the contrary, the 
breeze freshened. The sailors unfurled the 
sails, the oars were taken in, and the great 
crew of oarsmen rested from their toil. The 
ships began to make their way rapidly through 
the rippling water. The land soon became a 
faint, low cloud in the horizon, and in an hour 
all traces of it entirely disappeared. 

The voyage continued for ten days. They 



108 Mary Queen of Scots. p.S)61. 

Fog. One vessel captured. Narrow escape. 

saw nothing of Elizabeth's cruisers. It was 
afterward ascertained, however, that these 
ships were at one time very near to them, and 
were only prevented from seeing and taking 
them by a dense fog, which at that time hap- 
pened to cover the sea. One of the vessels of 
burden was seen and taken, and carried to En- 
gland. It contained, however, only some of 
Mary's furniture and effects. She herself es- 
caped the danger. 

The fog, which was thus Mary's protection 
at one time, was a source of great difficulty and 
danger at another ; for, when they were draw- 
ing near to the place of their landing in Scot- 
land, they were enveloped in a fog so dense that 
they could scarcely see from one end of the ves- 
sel to the other. They stopped the progress of 
their vessels, and kept continually sounding; 
and when at length the fog cleared away, they 
found themselves involved in a labyrinth of 
rocks and shoals of the most dangerous char- 
acter. They made their escape at last, and 
went on safely toward the land. Mary said, 
however, that she felt, at the time, entirely in- 
different as to the result. She was so discon- 
solate and wretched at having parted forever 
from all that was dear to her, that it seemed to 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 109 

Mary's Adieu to France. Attempts to translate it. 

her that she was equally willing to live or to 
die. 

Mary, who, among her other accomplish 
ments, had a great deal of poetic talent, wrote 
some lines, called her Farewell to France, 
which have been celebrated from that day to 
this. They are as follows: 

Adieu. 

Adieu, plaisant pays de France ! 
O ma patrie, 
La plus cherie ; 

Qui a nourri ma jeune enfance. 
Adieu, France ! adieu, mes beaux jours ! 
La nef qui dejoint mes amours, 
N'a cy de moi que la moitie ; 
Une parte te reste ; elle est tienne ; 
Je la fie a ton amitie, 
Pour que de 1' autre il te souvienne. 

Many persons have attempted to translate 
these lines into English verse ; but it is always 
extremely difficult to translate poetry from one 
language to another. We give here two of the 
best of these translations. The reader can 
judge, by observing how different they are from 
each other, how different they must both be 
from their common original. 



110 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561. 

Translations of Mary's Adieu to France. 

Adieu. 

Farewell to thee, thou pleasant shore, 
The loved, the cherished home to me 

Of infant joy, a dream that's o'er, 

Farewell, dear France ! farewell to thee ! 

The sail that wafts me bears away 
From thee but half my soul alone ; 

Its fellow half will fondly stay, 

And back to thee has faithful flown. 

I trust it to thy gentle care ; 

For all that here remains with me 
Lives but to think of all that's there, 

To love and to remember thee. 

The other translation is as follows : 

Adieu. 

Adieu, thou pleasant land of France ! 

The dearest of all lands to me, 
Where life was like a joyful dance, 

The joyful dance of infancy. 

Farewell my childhood's laughing wiles, 
Farewell the joys of youth's bright day; 

The bark that takes me from thy smiles, 
"Rears but my meaner half away. 



I561.J Return to Scotland. Ill 

Arrival at Leith. Palace of Holyrood. Mary's arrival unexpected. 

The best is thine ; my changeless heart 
Is given, beloved France, to thee ; 

And let it sometimes, though we part, 
Remind thee, with a sigh, of me. 

It was on the 19th of August, 1561, that the 
two galleys arrived at Leith. Leith is a small 
port on the shore of the Frith of Forth, about 
two miles from Edinburgh, which is situated 
somewhat inland. The royal palace, where 
Mary was to reside, was called the Palace of 
Holyrood. It was, and is still, a large square 
building, with an open court in the center, into 
which there is access for carriages through a 
large arched passage-way in the center of the 
principal front of the building. In the rear, but 
connected with the palace, there was a chapel 
in Mary's day, though it is now in ruins. The 
walls still remain, but the roof is gone. The 
people of Scotland were not expecting Mary 
so soon. Information was communicated from 
country to country, in those days, slowly and 
with great difficulty. Perhaps the time of Ma- 
ry's departure from France was purposely con- 
cealed even from the Scotch, to avoid all possi- 
bility that the knowledge of it should get into 
Elizabeth's possession. 



112 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561. 

Mary's reception. Contrasts. The cavalcade. 

At any rate, the first intelligence which the 
inhabitants of Edinburgh and the vicinity had 
of the arrival of their queen, was the approach 
of the galleys to the shore, and the firing of a 
royal salute from their guns. The Palace of 
Holyrood was not ready for Mary's reception, 
and she had to remain a day at Leith, awaiting 
the necessary preparations. In the mean time, 
the whole population began to assemble to wel- 
come her arrival. Military bands were turned 
out ; banners were prepared ; civil and military 
officers in full costume assembled, and bon-flres 
and illuminations were provided for the evening 
and night. In a word, Mary's subjects in Scot- 
land did all in their power to do honor to the 
occasion ; but the preparations were so far be- 
neath the pomp and pageantry which she had 
been accustomed to in France, that she felt the 
contrast very keenly, and realized, more forci- 
bly than ever, how great was the change which 
the circumstances of her life were undergoing. 

Horses were prepared for Mary and her large 
company of attendants, to ride from Leith to 
Edinburgh. The long cavalcade moved toward 
evening. The various professions and trades 
of Edinburgh were drawn up in lines on each 
side of the road, and thousands upon thousands 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 115 

Serenade. Solitary home. Favorable impression. 

of other spectators assembled to witness the 
scene. When she reached the Palace of Holy- 
rood House, a band of music played for a time 
under her windows, and then the great throng 
quietly dispersed, leaving Mary to her repose. 
The adjoining engraving represents the Palace 
of Holyrood as it now appears. In Mary's day, 
the northern part only had been built — that is, 
the part on the left, in the view, where the ivy 
climbs about the windows — and the range ex- 
tending back to the royal chapel, the ruins of 
which are seen in the rear.* Mary took up 
her abode in this dwelling, and was glad to rest 
from the fatigues and privations of her long voy- 
age ; but she found her new home a solitary 
and gloomy dwelling, compared with the mag- 
nificent palaces of the land she had left. 

Mary made an extremely favorable impres- 
sion upon her subjects in Scotland. To please 
them, she exchanged the white mourning of 
France, from which she had taken the name of 
the White Queen, for a black dress, more ac- 
cordant with the ideas and customs of her na- 
tive land. This gave her a more sedate and 
matronly character, and though the expression 

* For the situation of this palace in respect to Edinburgh, 
see the view of Edinburgh, page 179. 



116 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561. 

The Lord James. Mary makes him one of her ministers. 

of her countenance and figure was somewhat 
changed by it, it was only a change to a new 
form of extreme and fascinating beauty. Her 
manners, too, so graceful and easy, and yet so 
simple and unaffected, charmed all who saw her* 

Mary had a half brother in Scotland, whose 
title was at this time the Lord James. He 
was afterward named the Earl of Murray, and 
is commonly known in history under this latter 
designation. The mother of Lord James was 
not legally married to Mary's father, and con- 
sequently he could not inherit any of his fa- 
ther's rights to the Scottish crown. The Lord 
James was, however, a man of very high rank 
and influence, and Mary immediately received 
him into her service, and made him one of her 
highest ministers of state. He was now about 
thirty years of age, prudent, cautious, and wise, 
of good person and manners, but somewhat re- 
served and austere. 

Lord James had the general direction of af- 
fairs on Mary's arrival, and things went on 
very smoothly for a week ; but then, on the 
first Sunday after the landing, a very serious 
difficulty threatened to occur. The Catholics 
have a certain celebration, called the mass, to 
which they attach a very serious and solemn 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 117 

The mass. Transubstantiation. 

importance. When our Savior gave the bread 
and the wine to his disciples at the Last Sup- 
per, he said of it, " This is my body, broken for 
you," and " This is my blood, shed for you." 
The Catholics understand that these words de- 
note that the bread and wine did at that time, 
and that they do now, whenever the communion 
service is celebrated by a priest duly author- 
ized, -become, by a sort of miraculous trans- 
formation, the true body and blood of Christ, 
and that the priest, in breaking the one and 
pouring out the other, is really and truly re- 
newing the great sacrifice for sin made by Je- 
sus Christ at his crucifixion. The mass, there- 
fore, in which the bread and the wine are so 
broken and poured out, becomes, in their view, 
not a mere service of prayer and praise to God, 
but a solemn act of sacrifice. The spectators, 
or assistants, as they call them, meaning all 
who are present on the occasion, stand by, not 
merely to hear words of adoration, in which they 
mentally join, as is the case in most Protestant 
forms of worship, but to witness the enactment 
of a deed, and one of great binding force and 
validity : a real and true sacrifice of Christ, 
made anew, as an atonement for their sins 
The bread, when consecrated, and, as they sup- 



1 



118 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561. 

Adoration of the host. Protestant and Catholic worship. 

pose, transmuted to the body of Christ, is held 
up to view, or carried in a procession around 
the church, that all present may bow before it, 
and adore it as really being, though in the form 
of bread, the wounded and broken body of the 
Lord. 

Of course the celebration of the mass is in- 
vested, in the minds of all conscientious Cath- 
olics, with the utmost solemnity and import- 
ance. They stand silently by, with the deep- 
est feelings of reverence and awe, while the 
priest offers up for them, anew, the great sac- 
rifice for sin. They regard all Protestant wor- 
ship, which consists of mere exhortations to 
duty, hymns and prayers, as lifeless and void. 
That which is to them the soul, the essence, 
and substance of the whole, is wanting. On 
the other hand, the Protestants abhor the sacri- 
fice of the mass as gross superstition. They 
think that the bread remains simply bread after 
the benediction as much as before ; that for the 
priests to pretend that in breaking it they re- 
new the sacrifice of Christ, is imposture ; and 
that to bow before it in adoration and homage 
is the worst idolatry. 

Now it happened that during Mary's absence 
in France," the contest between the Catholics 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 119 



Violence and persecution. The mass in Mary's chapel 

and the Protestants had been going fiercely on, 
and the result had been the almost complete 
defeat of the Catholic party, and the establish- 
ment of the Protestant interest throughout the 
realm. A great many deeds of violence accom- 
panied this change. Churches and abbeys were 
sometimes sacked and destroyed. The images 
of saints, which the Catholics had put up, were 
pulled down and broken ; and the people were 
sometimes woiKed up to phrensy against the 
principles of the Catholic faith and Catholic ob- 
servances. They abhorred the mass, and were 
determined that it should not be introduced 
again into Scotland. 

Queen Mary, knowing this state of things 
determined, on her arrival in Scotland, not t(? 
interfere with her people in the exercise of their 
religion ; but she resolved to remain a Catholic 
herself, and to continue, for the use of her own 
household, in the royal chapel at Holyrood, the 
same Catholic observances to which she had 
been accustomed in France. She accordingly 
gave orders that mass should be celebrated in 
her chapel on the first Sunday after her arriv- 
al. She was very willing to abstain from inter- 
fering with the religious usages of her subjects, 
but she was not willing to give up her own. 



120 Mary Queen of Scots. [1561 

Scene of excitement. Lord James, 

The friends of the Reformation had a meet- 
ing, and resolved that mass should not be cele- 
brated. There was, however, no way of pre- 
venting it but by intimidation or violence. 
When Sunday came, crowds began to assem- 
ble about the palace and the chapel, # and to 
fill all the avenues leading to them. The Cath- 
olie families who were going to attend the ser- 
vice were treated rudely as they passed. The 
priests they threatened with death. One, who 
carried a candle which was to be used in the 
ceremonies, was extremely terrified at their 
threats and imprecations. The excitement 
was very great, and would probably have pro- 
ceeded to violent extremities, had it not been 
for Lord James's energy and courage. He was 
a Protestant, but he took his station at the dooi 
of the chapel, and, without saying or doing any 
thing to irritate the crowd without, he kept 
them at bay, while the service proceeded. It 
went on to the close, though greatly interrupt- 
ed by the confusion and uproar. Many of the 
French people who came with Mary were so 
terrified by this scene, that they declared they 

* The ruins of the royal chapel are to be seen in the rear 
of the palace in the view on page 114. 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 121 

The reformer, John Knox. His uncompromising character 

would not stay in such a country, and took the 
first opportunity of returning to France. 

One of the most powerful and influential o f 
the leaders of the Protestant party at this time 
was the celebrated John Knox. He was a man 
of great powers of mind and of commanding elo- 
quence ; and he had exerted a vast influence 
in arousing the people of Scotland to a feeling 
of strong abhorrence of what they considered 
the abominations of popery. When Queen 
Mary of England was upon the throne, Knox 
had written a book against her, and against 
queens in general, women having, according to 
his views, no right to govern. Knox was a man 
of the most stern and uncompromising charac- 
ter, who feared nothing, respected nothing, and 
submitted to no restraints in the blunt and 
plain discharge of what he considered his duty. 
Mary dreaded his influence and power. 

Knox had an interview with Mary not long 
after his arrival, and it is one of the most strik- 
ing instances of the strange ascendency which 
Mary's extraordinary beauty and grace, and 
the pensive charm of her demeanor, exercised 
over all that came within her influence, that 
even John Knox, whom nothing else could soft- 
en or subdue, found his rough and indomitable 



122 Mary Queen op Scots. [1561. 

Knox's interview with Mary. His sternness subdued. 

energy half forsaking him in the presence of 
his gentle queen. She expostulated with him. 
He half apologized. Nothing had ever drawn 
the least semblance of an apology from him be- 
fore. He told her that his book was aimed 
solely against Queen Mary of England, and 
not against her ; that she had no cause to fear 
its influence ; that, in respect to the freedom 
with which he had advanced his opinions and 
theories on the subjects of government and re- 
ligion, she need not be alarmed, for philoso- 
phers had always done this in every age, and 
yet had lived good citizens of the sWe, whose 
institutions they had, nevertheless, in some 
sense theoretically condemned. He told her, 
moreover, that he had no intention of troubling 
her reign ; that she might be sure of this, since, 
if he had such a desire, he should have com- 
menced his measures during her absence, and 
not have postponed them until her position on 
the throne was strengthened by her return. 
Thus he tried to soothe her fears, and to justi- 
fy himself from the suspicion of having design- 
ed any injury to such a gentle and helpless 
queen. The interview was a very extraordi- 
nary spectacle. It was that of a lion laying 
aside his majestic sternness and strength to 



1561.] Return to Scotland. 123 

The four Maries. Queen Elizabeth's insincerity. 

dispel the fears and quiet the apprehensions of 
a dove. The interview was, however, after all, 
painful and distressing to Mary. Some things 
which the stern reformer felt it his duty to say 
to her, brought tears into her eyes. 

Mary soon became settled in her new home, 
though many circumstances in her situation 
were well calculated to disquiet and disturb 
her. She lived in the palace at Holyrood. 
The four Maries continued with her for a time, 
and then two of them were married to nobles 
of high rank. Queen Elizabeth sent Mary a 
kind message, congratulating her on her safe, 
arrival in Scotland, and assuring her that the 
story of her having attempted to intercept her 
was false. Mary, who had no means of prov- 
ing Elizabeth's insincerity, sent her back a po- 
lite reply. 



124 Mary Queen of Scois. [1562 

Stormy scenes. Lord James. Acts of cruelty- 



Chapter VI. 

Mary and Lord Darnley. 

URING the three or four years which 
elapsed after Queen Mary's arrival in 
Scotland, she had to pass through many stormy 
scenes of anxiety and trouble. The great no- 
bles of the land were continually quarreling, 
and all parties were earnest and eager in their 
efforts to get Mary's influence and power on 
their side. She had a great deal of trouble 
with the affairs of her brother, the Lord James. 
He wished to have the earldom of Murray con- 
ferred upon him. The castle and estates per- 
taining to this title were in the north of Scot- 
land, in the neighborhood of Inverness. They 
were in possession of another family, who re- 
fused to give them up. Mary accompanied 
Lord James to the north with an army, to put 
him in possession. They took the castle, and 
hung the governor, who had refused to surren- 
der at their summons. This, and some other 
acts of this expedition, have since been consid- 
ered unjust and cruel ; but posterity have been 



1562.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 125 

Mary's energy and decision. Her popularity 

divided in opinion on the question how far Mary 
herself was personally responsible for them. 

Mary, at any rate, displayed a great degree 
of decision and energy in her management of 
public affairs, and in the personal exploits which 
she performed. She made excursions from cas- 
tle to castle, and from town to town, all over 
Scotland. On these expeditions she traveled 
on horseback, sometimes with a royal escort, 
and sometimes at the head of an army of eight- 
een or twenty thousand men. These royal pro- 
gresses were made sometimes among the great 
towns and cities on the eastern coast of Scot- 
land, and also, at other times, among the gloomy 
and dangerous denies of the Highlands. Occa- 
sionally she would pay visits to the nobles at 
their castles, to hunt in their parks, to review 
their Highland retainers, or to join them in cel- 
ebrations and fetes, and military parades. 

During all this time, her personal influence 
and ascendency over all who knew her was con- 
stantly increasing ; and the people of Scotland, 
notwithstanding the disagreement on the sub- 
ject of religion, became more and more devoted 
to their queen. The attachment which those 
who were in immediate attendance upon her 
c elt to her person and character, was i» many 



126 Mary Queen of Scots. [1562 

Story of Chatelard. Hie love and infatuation. 

cases extreme. In one instance, this attach- 
ment led to a very sad result. There was a 
young Frenchman, named Chatelard, who came 
in Mary's train from France. He was a schol- 
ar and a poet. He began by writing verses in 
Mary's praise, which Mary read, and seemed to 
be pleased with. This increased his interest in 
her, and led him to imagine that he was him- 
self the object of her kind regard. Finally, the 
love which he felt for her came to be a perfect 
infatuation. He concealed himself one night 
in Mary's bed-chamber, armed, as if to resist 
any attack which the attendants might make 
upon him. He was discovered by the female 
attendants, and taken away, and they, for fear 
of alarming Mary, did not tell her of the cir- 
cumstance till the next morning. 

Mary was very much displeased, or, at least, 
professed to be so. John Knox thought that 
this displeasure was only a pretense. She, how- 
ever, forbid Chatelard to come any more into 
her sight. A day or two after this, Mary set 
out on a journey to the north. Chatelard fol- 
lowed. He either believed that Mary really 
loved him, or else he was led on by that strange 
and incontrollabie infatuation which so often, in 
such cases, renders even the wisest men utterly 



1563.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 12 9 

Trial of Chatelard. His execution and last words. 

reckless and blind tc the consequences of what 
they say or do. He watched his opportunity, 
and one night, when Mary retired to her bed- 
room, he followed her directly in. Mary called 
for help. The attendants came in, and imme- 
diately sent for the Earl of Murray, who was 
in the palace. Chatelard protested that all he 
wanted was to explain and apologize for his 
coming into Mary's room before, and to ask her 
to forgive him. Mary, however, would not lis- 
ten. She was very much incensed. When 
Murray came in, she directed him to run his 
dagger through the man. Murray, however, 
instead of doing this, had the offender seized 
and sent to prison. In a few days he was tried, 
and condemned to be beheaded. The excite- 
ment and enthusiasm of his love continued to 
the last. He stood firm and undaunted on the 
scaffold, and, just before he laid his head on the 
block, he turned toward the place where Mary 
was then lodging, and said, " Farewell ! love- 
liest and most cruel princess that the world 
contains !" 

In the mean time, Mary and Queen Eliza- 
beth continued ostensibly on good terms They 
sent embassadors to each other's courts. They 
communicated letters and messages to each oth- 



128 Mary Queen of Scots. [1563. 

Mary and Elizabeth. The English successioo. 

er, and entered into various negotiations re- 
specting the affairs of their respective king- 
doms. The truth was, each was afraid of the 
other, and neither dared to come to an open 
rupture. Elizabeth was uneasy on account of 
Mary's claim to her crown, and was very anx- 
ious to avoid driving her to extremities, since 
she knew that, in that case, there would be 
great danger of her attempting openly to en- 
force it. Mary, on the other hand, thought that 
there was more probability of her obtaining the 
succession to the English crown by keeping 
peace with Elizabeth than by a quarrel. Eliz- 
abeth was not married, and was likely to live 
and die single. Mary would then be the next 
heir, without much question. She wished Eliz- 
abeth to acknowledge this, and to have the En- 
glish Parliament enact it. If Elizabeth would 
take this course, Mary was willing to waive 
her claims during Elizabeth's life. Elizabeth, 
however, was not willing to do this decidedly. 
She wished to reserve the right to herself of 
marrying if she chose. She also wished to 
keep Mary dependent upon her as long as she 
could. Hence, while she would not absolutely 
refuse to comply with Mary's proposition, she 
would not really accede to it, but kept the whole 



1563.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 129 

Claim of Lady Lennox. Lord Darnley, 

matter in suspense by endless procrastination, 
difficulties, and delays. 

I have said that, after Elizabeth, Mary's claim 
to the British crown was almost unquestioned. 
There was another lady about as nearly related 
to the English royal line as Mary. Her name 
was Margaret Stuart. Her title was Lady 
Lennox. She had a son named Henry Stuart, 
whose title was Lord Darnley. It was a ques- 
tion whether Mary or Margaret were best enti- 
tled to consider herself the heir to the British 
crown after Elizabeth. Mary, therefore, had 
two obstacles in the way of the accomplishment 
of her wishes to be Queen of England : one was 
the claim of Elizabeth, who was already in pos- 
session of the throne, and the other the claims of 
Lady Lennox, and, after her, of her son Darnley. 
There was a plan of disposing of this last diffi- 
culty in a very simple manner. It was, to have 
Mary marry Lord Darnley, and thus unite these 
two claims. This plan had been proposed, but 
there had been no decision in respect to it. 
There was one objection : that Darnley being 
Mary's cousin, their marriage was forbidden by 
the laws of the Catholic Church. There was 
no way of obviating this difficulty but by ap- 
plying to the pope to grant them a special dis- 
pensation. 9 



130 Mary Queen of Scots. [1563 

Offers of marriage. Duplicity of Elizabeth. 

In the mean time, a great many other plans 
were formed for Mary's marriage. Several of 
the princes and potentates of Europe applied for 
her band. They were allured somewhat, no 
doubt, by her youth and beauty, and still more, 
very probably, by the desire to annex her king- 
dom to their dominions. Mary, wishing to 
please Elizabeth, communicated often with her, 
to ask her advice and counsel in regard to her 
marriage. Elizabeth's policy was to embarrass 
and perplex the whole subject by making diffi- 
culties in respect to every plan proposed. Fi- 
nally, she recommended a gentleman of her own 
court to Mary — Robert Dudley, whom she aft- 
erward made Earl of Leicester — one of her spe- 
cial favorites. The position of Dudley, and the 
circumstances of the case, were such that man- 
kind have generally supposed that Elizabeth 
did not seriously imagine that such a plan could 
be adopted, but that she proposed it, as per- 
verse and intriguing people often do, as a means 
of increasing the difficulty. Such minds often 
attempt to prevent doing what can be done by 
proposing and urging what they know is im- 
possible. 

In the course of these negotiations, Queen 
Mary once sent Melville, her former page of 



1564.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 131 

Melville sent as embassador to Elizabeth. His reception. 

honor in France, as a special embassador to 
Queen Elizabeth, to ascertain more perfectly 
her views. Melville had followed Mary to 
Scotland, and had entered her service there as 
a confidential secretary ; and as she had great 
confidence in his prudence and in his fidelity, 
she thought him the most suitable person to 
undertake this mission. Melville afterward 
lived to an advanced age, and in the latter part 
of his life he wrote a narrative of his various 
adventures, and recorded, in quaint and ancient 
language, many of his conversations and inter- 
views with the two queens. His mission to 
England was of course a very important event 
in his life, and one of the most curious and en- 
tertaining passages in his memoirs is his narra- 
tive of his interviews with the English queen. 
He was, at the time, about thirty-four years of 
age. Mary was about twenty-two. 

Sir James Melville was received with many 
marks of attention and honor by Queen Eliza- 
beth. His first interview with her was in a 
garden near the palace. She first asked him 
about a letter which Mary had recently written 
to her, and which, she said, had greatly dis- 
pleased her ; and she took out a reply from her 
pocket, written in very sharp and severe Ian.- 



132 Mary Queen of Scois. [1564- 

Conversation of Melville and Elizabeth. Dudley. 

guage, though she said she had not sent it be- 
cause it was not severe enough, and she was 
going to write another. Melville asked to see 
the letter from Mary which had given Eliza- 
beth so much offense ; and on reading it, he ex- 
plained it, and disavowed, on Mary's part, any 
intention to give offense, and thus finally suc- 
ceeded in appeasing Elizabeth's displeasure, 
and at length induced her to tear up her angry 
reply. 

Elizabeth then wanted to know what Mary 
thought of her proposal of Dudley for her hus- 
band. Melville told her that she had not given 
the subject much reflection, but that she was 
going to appoint two commissioners, and she 
wished Elizabeth to appoint two others, and 
then that the four should meet on the borders 
of the two countries, and consider the whole 
subject of the marriage. Elizabeth said that 
she perceived that Mary did not think much of 
this proposed match. She said, however, that 
Dudley stood extremely high in her regard; 
that she was going to make him an earl, and 
that she should marry him herself were it not 
that she was fully resolved to live and die a 
single woman. She said she wished very much 
to have Dudley become Mary's husband, both 



1564.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 133 

Dudley, earl of Leicester The "long" lad 

on account of her attachment to him, and also 
on account of his attachment to her, which she 
was sure would prevent his allowing her, that 
is, Elizabeth, to have any trouble out of Mary's 
claim to her crown as long as she lived. 

Elizabeth also asked Melville to wait in 
Westminster until the day appointed for mak- 
ing Dudley an earl. This was done, a short 
time afterward, with great ceremony. Lord 
Darnley, then a very tall and slender youth of 
about nineteen, was present on the occasion. 
His father and mother had been banished from 
Scotland, on account of some political offenses, 
twenty years before, and he had thus himself 
been brought up in England. As he was a 
near relative of the queen, and a sort of heir- 
presumptive to the crown, he had a high posi- 
tion at the court, and his office was, on this oc- 
casion, to bear the sword of honor before the 
queen. Dudley kneeled before Elizabeth while 
she put upon him the badges of his new dig- 
nity. Afterward she asked Melville what he 
thought of him. Melville was polite enough to 
speak warmly in his favor. " And yet," said 
the queen, " I suppose you prefer yonder long 
lad," pointing to Darnley. She knew some- 
thing of Mary's half-formed design of making 



134 Mary Queen of Scots. [1564. 

Lord Darnley. Elizabeth's management. 

Damley her husband. Melville, who did not 
wish her to suppose that Mary had any serious 
intention of choosing Darnley, said that "no 
woman of spirit would choose such a person as 
he was, for he was handsome, beardless, and 
lady-faced ; in fact, he looked more like a wom- 
an than a man." 

Melville was not very honest in this, for he 
had secret instructions at this very time to ap- 
ply to Lady Lennox, Damley's mother, to send 
ler son into Scotland, in order that Mary might 
see him, and be assisted to decide the question 
of becoming his wife, by ascertaining how she 
was going to like him personally. Queen 
Elizabeth, in the mean time, pressed upon 
Melville the importance of Mary's deciding 
soon in favor of the marriage with Leicester. 
As to declaring in favor of Mary's right to in- 
herit the crown after her, she said the question 
was in the hands of the great lawyers and com- 
missioners to whom she had referred it, and 
that she heartily wished that they might come 
to a conclusion in favor of Mary's claim. She 
should urge the business forward as fast as she 
could ; but the result would depend very much 
upon the disposition which Mary showed to 
comply with her wishes in respect to the mar- 



1564.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 135 

Darnley's visit to Scotland. Mary's message to Elizabeth. 

riage. She said she should never marry her- 
self unless she was compelled to it on account 
of Mary's giving her trouble by her claims upon 
the crown, and forcing her to desire that it 
should go to her direct descendants. If Mary 
would act wisely, and as she ought, and follow 
her counsel, she would, in due time, have all 
her desire. 

Some time more elapsed in negotiations and 
delays. There was a good deal of trouble in 
getting leave for Darnley to go to Scotland. 
From his position, and from the state of the 
laws and customs of the two realms, he could 
not go without Elizabeth's permission. Final- 
ly, Mary sent word to Elizabeth that she would 
marry Leicester according to her wish, if she 
would have her claim to the English crown, 
after Elizabeth, acknowledged and established 
by the English government, so as to have that 
question definitely and finally settled. Eliza- 
beth sent back for answer to this proposal, that 
if Mary married Leicester, she would advance 
him to great honors and dignities, but that she 
could not do any thing at present about the suc- 
cession. She also, at the same time, gave per- 
mission to Darnley to go to Scotland. 

It is thought that Elizabeth never seriously 



136 Mary Queen of Scots. [1565 

Elizabeth's duplicity. Wemya Castle. 

intended that Mary should marry Leicester, 
and that she did not suppose Mary herself would 
consent to it on any terms. Accordingly, when 
she found Mary was acceding to the plan, she 
wanted to retreat from it herself, and hoped 
that Darnley's going to Scotland, and appear- 
ing there as a new competitor in the field, 
would tend to complicate and embarrass the 
question in Mary's mind, and help to prevent 
the Leicester negotiation from going any fur- 
ther. At any rate, Lord Darnley — then a very 
tall and handsome young man of nineteen — ob- 
tained suddenly permission to go to Scotland. 
Mary went to Wemys Castle, and made ar- 
rangements to have Darnley come and visit hex 
there. 

Wemys Castle is situated in a most roman- 
tic and beautiful spot on the sea-shore, on the 
northern side of the Frith of Forth. Edin- 
burgh is upon the southern side of the Frith, 
and is in full view from the windows of the 
castle, with Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat 
on the left of the city. Wemys Castle was, at 
this time, the residence of Murray, Mary's 
brother. Mary's visit to it was an event which 
attracted a great deal of attention. The peo- 
ple flocked into the neighborhood, and provis- 



1565.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 139 

Mary's opinion of Darnley. His interview with her. 

ions and accommodations of ever) kind rose 
enormously in price. Every one was eager to 
get a glimpse of the beautiful queen. Besides, 
they knew that Lord Darnley was expected, 
and the rumor that he was seriously thought of 
as her future husband had been widely circu- 
lated, and had awakened, of course, a universal 
desire to see him. 

Mary was very much pleased with Darnley. 
She told Melville, after their first interview, 
that he was the handsomest and best propor- 
tioned " long man" she had ever seen. Darn- 
ley was, in fact, very tall, and as he was straight 
and slender, he appeared even taller than he 
really was. He was, however, though young, 
very easy and graceful in his manners, and 
highly accomplished. Mary was very much 
pleased with him. She had almost decided to 
make him her husband before she saw him, 
merely from political considerations, on account 
of her wish to combine his claim with hers 
in respect to the English crown. Elizabeth's 
final answer, refusing the terms on which Mary 
had consented to marry Leicester, which came 
about this time, vexed her, and determined her 
to abandon that plan. And now, just in such 
a crisis, to find Darnley possessed of such strong 



140 Mary Qieen of Scots. [1565 

The courtship. Elizabeth in a rage. 

personal attractions, seemed to decide the ques- 
tion. In a few days her imagination was full 
of pictures of joy and pleasure, in anticipations 
of union with such a husband. 

The thing took the usual course of such af- 
fairs. Darnley asked Mary to be his wife. She 
said no, and was offended with him for asking 
it. He offered her a present of a ring. She 
refused to accept it. But the no meant yes, 
and the rejection of the ring was only the prel- 
ude to the acceptance of something far more 
important, of which a ring is the symbol. Ma- 
ry's first interview with Darnley was in Feb- 
ruary. In April, Queen Elizabeth's embassa- 
dor sent her word that he was satisfied that 
Mary's marriage with Darnley was all arrang- 
ed and settled. 

Queen Elizabeth was, or pretended to be, in 
a great rage. She sent the most urgent re- 
monstrances to Mary against the execution of 
the plan. She forwarded, also, very decisive 
orders to Darnley, and to the Earl of Lennox 
his father, to return immediately to England. 
Lennox replied that he could not return, for 
"he did not think the climate would agree with 
him !" Darnley sent back word that he had 
entered the service of the Queen of Scots, and 



1565.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 141 

Murray's opposition. Mary hastens the marriage. A dangerous plot 

henceforth should obey her orders alone. Eliz- 
abeth, however, was not the only one who op- 
posed this marriage. The Earl of Murray, Ma- 
ry's brother,* who had been thus far the great 
manager of the government under Mary, took 
at once a most decided stand against it. He 
enlisted a great number of Protestant nobles 
with him, and they held deliberations, in which 
they formed plans for resisting it by force. But 
Mary, who, with all her gentleness and loveli- 
ness of spirit, had, like other women, some de- 
cision and energy when an object in which the 
heart is concerned is at stake, had made up 
her mind. She sent to France to get the con- 
sent of her friends there. She dispatched a com- 
missioner to Rome to obtain the pope's dispen- 
sation ; she obtained the sanction of her own 
Parliament ; and, in fact, in every way hasten- 
ed the preparations for the marriage. 

Murray, on the other hand, and his confed- 
erate lords, were determined to prevent it. They 
formed a plan to rise in rebellion against Mary, 
to waylay and seize her, to imprison her, an I 
to send Darnley and his father to England, hav- 
ing made arrangements with Elizabeth's min- 
isters to receive them at the borders. The plan 
was all well matured, and would probably have 



142 Mary Queen of Scots. [1565. 

Mary's narrow escape. The marriage, 

been carried into effect, had not Mary, in some 
way or other, obtained information of the de- 
sign. She was then at Stirling, and they were 
to waylay her on the usual route to Edinburgh. 
She made a sudden journey, at an unexpected 
time, and by a new and unusual road, and thus 
evaded her enemies. The violence of this op- 
position only stimulated her determination to 
carry the marriage into effect without delay 
Her escape from her rebellious nobles took place 
in June, and she was married in July. This 
was six months after her first interview with 
Darnley. The ceremony was performed in the 
royal chapel at Holyrood. They show, to this 
day, the place where she is said to have stood, 
in the now roofless interior. 

Mary was conducted into the chapel by her 
father and another nobleman, in the midst of a 
large company of lords and ladies of the court, 
and of strangers of distinction, who had come 
to Edinburgh to witness the ceremony. A vast 
throng had collected also around the palace, 
Mary was led to the altar, and then Lord Darn- 
ley was conducted in. The marriage ceremony 
was performed according to the Catholic ritual. 
Three rings, one of them a diamond ring of 
great value, were put upon her finger. After 



1565.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 143 

The mourner and the bride. Darnley's contemptible character. 

the ceremony, largess was proclaimed, and mon- 
ey distributed among the crowd, as had been 
done in Paris at Mary's former marriage, five 
years before. Mary then remained to attend 
the celebration of mass, Darnley, who was not 
a Catholic, retiring. After the mass, Mary re- 
turned to the palace, and changed the mourn- 
ing dress which she had continued to wear from 
the time of her first husband's death to that 
hour, for one more becoming a bride. The 
evening was spent in festivities of every kind. 

We have said that Darnley was personally 
attractive in respect both to his countenance 
and his manners ; and, unfortunately, this is 
all that can be said in his favor. He was weak- 
minded, and yet self-conceited and vain. The 
sudden elevation which his marriage with a 
queen gave him, made him proud, and he soon 
began to treat all around him in a very haughty 
and imperious manner. He seems to have been 
entirely unaccustomed to exercise any self-com- 
mand, or to submit to any restraints in the grat- 
ification of his passions. Mary paid him a great 
many attentions, and took great pleasure in con- 
ferring upon him, as her queenly power enabled 
her to do, distinctions and honors ; but, instead 
of being grateful for them, he received them as 



144 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

Darnley's imperiousness and pride. Mary's cares. Rebellion 

matters of course, and was continually demand- 
ing more. There was one title which he want- 
ed, and which, for some good reason, it was nec- 
essary to postpone conferring upon him. A no- 
bleman came to him one day and informed him 
of the necessity of this delay. He broke into a 
fit of passion, drew his dagger, rushed toward 
the nobleman, and attempted to stab him. He 
commenced his imperious and haughty course 
of procedure even before his marriage, and con- 
tinued it afterward, growing more and more 
violent as his ambition increased with an in- 
crease of power. Marv felt these cruel acts of 
selfishness and pride very keenly, but, woman- 
like, she palliated and excused them, and loved 
him still. 

She had, however, other trials and cares press- 
ing upon her immediately. Murray and his 
confederates organized a formal and open re- 
bellion. Mary raised an army and took the 
field against them. The country generally 
took her side. A terrible and somewhat pro- 
tracted civil war ensued, but the rebels were 
finally defeated and driven out of the country, 
They went to England and claimed Elizabeth's 
protection, saying that she had incited them to 
the revolt, and promised them her aid. Eliza- 



1566.] Mary and Lord Darnley. 145 

Elizabeth's treatment of the rebels. Mary's generous conduct to Darnley. 

beth told them that it would not do for her to 
be supposed to have abetted a rebellion in her 
cousin Mary's dominions, and that, unless they 
would, in the presence of the foreign embassa- 
dors at her court, disavow her having done so, 
she could not help them or countenance them in 
any way. The miserable men, being reduced 
to a hard extremity, made this disavowal. Eliz- 
abeth then said to them, "Now you have told 
the truth. Neither I, nor any one else in my 
name, incited you against your queen ; and 
your abominable treason may set an example 
to my own subjects to rebel against me. So 
get you gone out of my presence, miserable 
traitors as you are." 

Thus Mary triumphed over all the obstacles 
to her marriage with the man she loved; but, 
alas ! before the triumph was fully accomplish- 
ed, the love was gone. Darnley was selfish, 
unfeeling, and incapable of requiting affection 
like Mary's. He treated her with the most 
heartless indifference, though she had done ev- 
ery thing to awaken his gratitude and win his 
love. She bestowed upon him every honor which 
it was in her power to grant. She gave him 
the title of king. She admitted him to share 
with her the powers and prerogatives of the 
10 



146 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566 

The double throne. Darnley's cruel ingratitude. 

crown. There is to this day, in Mary's apart- 
ments at Holyrood House, a double throne 
which she had made for herself and her hus- 
band, with their initials worked together in the 
embroidered covering, and each seat surmount- 
ed by a crown. Mankind have always felt a 
strong sentiment of indignation at the ingrati- 
tude which could requite such love with such 
selfishness and cruelty. 



1561.] Rizzio. 147 

David Rizzio. Embassadors. Rizzio's position. 



Chapter VII. 

Rizzio. 

TVTA.RY had a secretary named David Riz- 
__?JL z i 0# jj e was f r om Savoy, a country 
among the Alps. It was the custom then, as 
it is now, for the various governments of Eu- 
rope to have embassadors at the courts of other 
governments, to attend to any negotiations, or 
to the transaction of any other business which 
might arise between their respective sovereigns. 
These embassadors generally traveled with 
pomp and parade, taking sometimes many at- 
tendants with them. The embassador from 
Savoy happened to bring with him to Scotland, 
in his train, this young man, Rizzio, in 1561, 
that is, just about the time that Mary herself 
returned to Scotland. He was a handsome and 
agreeable young man, but his rank and position 
were such that, for some years, he attracted no 
attention. 

He was, however, quite a singer, and they 
used to bring him in sometimes to sing in 



148 Mary Queen of Scots. [1564 

Rizzio French secretary. Displeasure of the Scotch nobles. 

Mary's presence with three other singers. His 
voice, being a good bass, made up the quar- 
tette. Mary saw him in this way, and as he 
was a good French and Italian scholar, and was 
amiable and intelligent, she gradually became 
somewhat interested in him. Mary had, at 
this time, among her other officers, a French 
secretary, who wrote for her, and. transacted 
such other business as required a knowledge of 
the French language. This French secretary 
went home, and Mary appointed Rizzio to take 
his place. 

The native Scotchmen in Mary's court were 
naturally very jealous of the influence of these 
foreigners. They looked down with special 
contempt on Rizzio, considering him of mean 
rank and position, and wholly destitute of all 
claim to the office of confidential secretary to 
the queen. Rizzio increased the difficulty by 
not acting with the reserve and prudence which 
his delicate situation required. The nobles, 
proud of their own rank and importance, were 
very much displeased at the degree of intimacy 
and confidence to which Mary admitted him. 
They called him an intruder and an upstart. 
When they came in and found him in conver- 
sation with the queen, or whenever be accosted 



1564] Rizzio. 149 

They treat Rizzio with scorn and contempt. He consults Melville. 

her freely, as he was wont to do, in their pres- 
ence, they were irritated and vexed. They did 
not dare to remonstrate with Mary, but they 
took care to express their feelings of resent- 
ment and scorn to the subject of them in every 
possible way. They scowled upon him. They 
directed to him looks of contempt. They turn- 
ed their backs upon him, and jostled him in a 
rude and insulting manner. All this was a 
year or two before Mary's marriage. 

Rizzio consulted Melville, asking his judg- 
ment as to what he had better do. He said 
that, being Mary's French secretary, he was 
necessarily a good deal in her company, and 
the nobles seemed displeased with it; but he 
did not see what he could do to diminish or 
avoid the difficulty. Melville replied that the 
nobles had an opinion that he not only perform- 
ed the duties of French secretary, but that he 
was fast acquiring a great ascendency in re- 
spect to all other affairs. Melville further ad- 
vised him to be much more cautious in his bear- 
ing than he had been, to give place to the no- 
bles when they were with him in the presence 
of the queen, to speak less freely, and in a more 
unassuming manner, and to explain the whole 
case to the queen herself, that she might co- 



150 Mary Queen of Scots. [1564 

Melville's counsel. Melville and the queen. 

operate with him in pursuing a course which 
would soothe and conciliate the irritated and 
angry feelings of the nobles. Melville said, 
moreover, that he had himself, at one time, at 
a court on the Continent, been placed in a very- 
similar situation to Rizzio's, and had been in- 
volved in the same difficulties, but had escap- 
ed the dangers which threatened him by pur- 
suing himself the course which he now recom- 
mended. 

Rizzio seemed to approve of this counsel, and 
promised to follow it; but he afterward told 
Melville that he had spoken to the queen on the 
subject, and that she would not consent to any 
change, but wished every thing to go on as it 
had done. Now the queen, having great con- 
fidence in Melville, had previously requested 
him, that if he saw any thing in her deport- 
ment, or management, or measures, which he 
thought was wrong, frankly to let her know it. 
that she might be warned in season, and amend. 
He thought that this was an occasion which re- 
quired this friendly interposition, and he took 
an opportunity to converse with her on the sub- 
ject in a frank and plain, but still very respect- 
ful manner. He made but little impression. 
Mary said that Rizzio was only her private 



1564.] Rizzio. 151 

Rizzio's religion. His services to Mary. 

French secretary ; that he had nothing to do 
with the affairs of the government ; that, conse- 
quently, his appointment and his office were her 
own private concern alone, and she should con- 
tinue to act according to her own pleasure in 
managing her own affairs, no matter who was 
displeased by it. 

It is probable that the real ground of offense 
which the nobles had against Rizzio was jeal- 
ousy of his superior influence with the queen. 
They, however, made his religion a great ground 
of complaint against him. He was a Catholic, 
and had come from a strong Catholic country, 
having been born in the northern part of Italy. 
The Italian language was his mother tongue. 
They professed to believe that he was a secret 
emissary of the pope, and was plotting with 
Mary to bring Scotland back under the papal 
dominion. 

In the mean time, Rizzio devoted himself 
with untiring zeal and fidelity to the service 
of the queen. He was indefatigable in his ef- 
forts to please her, and he made himself ex- 
tremely useful to her in a thousand different 
ways. In fact, his being the object of so much 
dislike and aversion on the part of others, made 
him more and more exclusively devoted to the 



152 Mary Qoeen of Scots. [1565 

Rizzio's power and influence. His intimacy with Mary 

queen, who seemed to be almost his only friend. 
She, too, was urged, by what she considered the 
unreasonable and bitter hostility of which her 
favorite was the object, to bestow upon him 
greater and greater favors. In process of time, 
one after another of those about the court, find- 
ing that Rizzio's influence and power were great, 
and were increasing, began to treat him with 
respect, and to ask for his assistance in gaining 
their ends. Thus Rizzio found his position be- 
coming stronger, and the probability began to 
increase that he would at length triumph over 
the enemies who had set their faces so strongly 
against him. 

Though he had been at first inclined to fol- 
low Melville's advice, yet he afterward fell in 
cordially with the policy of the queen, which 
was, to press boldly forward, and put down with 
a strong hand the hostility which had been ex- 
cited against him. Instead, therefore, of at- 
tempting to conceal the degree of favor which 
he enjoyed with the queen, he boasted of and 
displayed it. He would converse often and fa- 
miliarly with her in public. He dressed mag- 
nificently, like persons of the highest rank, and 
had many attendants. In a word, he assumed 
all the airs and manners of a person of high dis- 






1565.] Rizzio. 153 

Rizzio's exertion in favor of the marriage. itizzio and Dsirnley. 

tinction and commanding influence. The ex- 
ternal signs of hostility to him were thus put 
down, but the fires of hatred burned none the 
less fiercely below, and only wanted an oppor- 
tunity to burst into an explosion. 

Things were in this state at the time of the ne- 
gotiations in respect to Darnley's marriage ; for, 
in order to take up the story of Rizzio from the 
beginning, we have been obliged to go back in 
our narrative. Rizzio exerted all his influence 
in favor of the marriage, and thus both strength- 
ened his influence with Mary and made Darn- 
ley his friend. He did all in his power to di- 
minish the opposition to it, from whatever quar- 
ter it might come, and rendered essential serv- 
ice in the correspondence with France, and in 
the negotiations with the pope for obtaining the 
necessary dispensation. In a word, he did a 
great deal to promote the marriage, and to fa- 
cilitate all the arrangements for carrying it into 
effect. 

Darnley relied, therefore, upon Rizzio's friend- 
ship and devotion to his service, forgetting that, 
in all these past efforts, Rizzio was acting out 
of regard to Mary's wishes, and not to his own. 
As long, therefore, as Mary and Darnley contin- 
ued to pursue the same objects and aims, Rizzio 



154 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566 

Darnley greatly disliked. His unreasonable wishes. 

was the common friend and ally of both. The 
enemies of the marriage, however, disliked Riz- 
zio more than ever. 

As Darnley's character developed itself grad- 
ually after his marriage, every body began to 
dislike him also. He was unprincipled and vi- 
cious, as well as imperious and proud. His 
friendship for Rizzio was another ground of dis- 
like to him. The ancient nobles, who had been 
accustomed to exercise the whole control in the 
public affairs of Scotland, found themselves sup- 
planted by this young Italian singer, and an 
English boy not yet out of his teens. They 
were exasperated beyond all bounds, but yet 
they contrived, for a while, to conceal and dis- 
semble their anger. 

It was not very long after the marriage of 
Mary and Darnley before they began to become 
alienated from each other. Mary did every 
thing for her husband which it was reasonable 
for him to expect her to do. She did, in fact, 
all that was in her power. But he was not sat- 
isfied. She made him the sharer of her throne. 
He wanted her to give up her place to him, and 
thus make him the sole possessor of it. He 
wanted what was called the crown matrimonial. 
The crown matrimonial denoted power with 






1566.] Rizzio. 155 

The crown matrimonial. Darnley's ambition. 

which, according to the old Scottish law, the 
husband of a queen could be invested, enabling 
him to exercise the royal prerogative in his own 
name, both during the life of the queen and 
also after her death, during the continuance of 
his own life. This made him, in fact, a king 
for life, exalting him above his wife, the real 
sovereign, through whom alone he derived his 
powers. 

Now Darnley was very urgent to have the 
crown matrimonial conferred upon him He 
insisted upon it. He would not submit to any 
delay. Mary told him that this was something 
entirely beyond her power to grant. The crown 
matrimonial could only be bestowed by a sol- 
emn enactment of the Scottish Parliament. 
But Darnley, impatient and reckless, like a boy 
as he was, would not listen to any excuse, but 
teased and tormented Mary about the crown 
matrimonial continually. 

Besides the legal difficulties in the way of 
Mary's conferring these powers upon Darnley 
by her own act, there were other difficulties, 
doubtless, in her mind, arising from the char- 
acter of Darnley, and his unfitness, which was 
every day becoming more manifest, to be in- 
trusted with such power. Only four months 



156 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

Darnley'a brutality. Signatures. Coins. 

after his marriage, his rough and cruel treat- 
ment of Mary became intolerable. One day, 
at a house in Edinburgh, where the king and 
queen, and other persons of distinction had been 
invited to a banquet, Darnley, as was his cus 
torn, was beginning to drink very freely, and 
was trying to urge other persons there to drink 
to excess. Mary expostulated with him, en- 
deavoring to dissuade him from such a course. 
Darnley resented these kind cautions, and re- 
torted upon her in so violent and brutal a man- 
ner as to cause her to leave the room and the 
company in tears. 

When they were first married, Mary had 
caused her husband to be proclaimed king, and 
had taken some other similar steps to invest him 
with a share of her own power. But she soon 
found that in doing this she had gone to the ex- 
treme of propriety, and that, for the future, she 
must retreat rather than advance. According- 
ly, although he was associated with her in the 
supreme power, she thought it best to keep 
precedence for her own name before his, in the 
exercise of power. On the coins which were 
struck, the inscription was, " In the name of 
the Queen and King of Scotland." In signing 
public documents, she insisted on having her 



1566.] Rizzio. 157 

Rizzio sides with Mary. Darnley and Ruthven. 

name recorded first. These things irritated and 
provoked Darnley more and more. He was 
not contented to be admitted to a share of the 
sovereign power which the queen possessed in 
her own right alone. He wished to supplant 
her in it entirely. 

Rizzio, of course, took Queen Mary's part in 
these questions. He opposed the grant of the 
crown matrimonial. He opposed all other 
plans for increasing or extending in any way 
Darnley 's power. Darnley was very much in- 
censed against him, and earnestly desired to 
find some way to effect his destruction. He 
communicated these feelings to a certain fierce 
and fearless nobleman named Ruthven, and 
asked his assistance to contrive some way to 
take vengeance upon Rizzio. 

Ruthven was very much pleased to hear this. 
He belonged to a party of the lords of the court 
who also hated Rizzio, though they had hated 
Darnley besides so much that they had not com- 
municated to him their hostility to the other. 
Ruthven and his friends had not joined Mur- 
ray and the other rebels in opposing the mar- 
riage of Darnley. They had chosen to acqui- 
esce in it, hoping to maintain an ascendency 
over Darnley, regarding him, as they did, as a 



158 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

A combination. The secretary and his queea 

mere boy, and thus retain their power. When 
they found, however, that he was so headstrong 
and unmanageable, and that they could do 
nothing with him, they exerted all their influ- 
ence to have Murray and the other exiled lords 
pardoned and allowed to return, hoping to com- 
bine with them after their return, and then to- 
gether to make their power superior to that of 
Darnley and Rizzio. They considered Darn- 
ley and Rizzio both as their rivals and ene- 
mies. When they found, therefore, that Darn- 
ley was plotting Rizzio's destruction, they felt 
a very strong as well as a very unexpected 
pleasure. 

Thus, among all the jealousies, and rivalries, 
and bitter animosities of which the court was 
at this time the scene, the only true and hon- 
est attachment of one heart to another seems to 
have been that of Mary to Rizzio. The secre- 
tary was faithful and devoted to tl^e queen, and 
the queen was grateful and kind to the secre- 
tary. There has been some question whether 
this attachment was an innocent or a guilty 
one. A painting, still hanging in the private 
rooms which belonged to Mary in the palace a 4 
Holyrood, represents Rizzio as young and ver\ 
handsome ; on the other hand, some of the his- 



1566.] Rizzio. 159 

Nature of Mary's attachment. Plot to assassinate Rizzio 

torians of the day, to disprove the possibility 
of any guilty attachment, say that he was rath- 
er old and ugly. We may ourselves, perhaps, 
safely infer, that unless there were something 
specially repulsive in his appearance and man- 
ner, such a heart as Mary's, repelled so roughly 
from the one whom it was her duty to love, 
could not well have resisted the temptation to 
seek a retreat and a refuge in the kind devot- 
edness of such a friend as Rizzio proved him- 
self to be to her. 

However this may be, Ruthven made such 
suggestions to Darnley as goaded him to mad- 
ness, and a scheme was soon formed for putting 
Rizzio to death. The plan, after being delib- 
erately matured in all its arrangements, was 
carried into effect in the following manner 
The event occurred early in the spring of 1566, 
less than a year after Mary's marriage. 

Morton, who was one of the accomplices, as- 
sembled a large force of his followers, consist- 
ing, it is said, of five hundred men, which he 
posted in the evening near the palace, and 
when it was dark he moved them silently into 
the central court of the palace, through the 
entrance E, as marked upon the following 
plan. 



160 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566, 



L'lan of Holyrood House. 



Description. 



Plan of that part of Holyrood House which 

WAS THE SCENE OF RlZZIo's MURDER. 




E. Principal entrance. Co. Court of the palace. PP. Piazza around 
it. AA. Various apartments built in modern times. H. Great hall, 
used now as a gallery of portraits. T. Stair-case. o. Entrance to 
Mary's apartments, second floor. R. Ante-room. B. Mary's bed-room. 
D. Dressing-room in one of the towers. C. Cabinet, or small room io 
the other tower. SS. Stair-cases in the wall. d. Small entrance under 
the tapestry. Ch. Royal chapel, m Place where Mary and Darnley 
stood at the marriage ceremony. Pa. Passage-way leading to the chapel. 

Mary was, at the time of these occurrences, 
in the little room marked C, which was built 
within one of the round towers which form a 
part of the front of the building, and which are 
very conspicuous in any view of the palace of 



1566. j Rizzio. 161 

Apartments. Morton and Ruthven. 

Holyrood.* This room was on the third floor, 
and it opened into Mary's bedroom, marked B. 
Darnley had a room of his own immediately 
below Mary's. There was a little door, d, lead- 
ing from Mary's bed-room to a private stair- 
ease built in the wall. This stair-case led down 
into Darnley's room ; and there was also a com- 
munication from this place down through the 
whole length of the castle to the royal chapel, 
marked Ch, the building which is now in ruins. 
Behind Mary's bed-room was an ante-room, _R, 
with a door, o, leading to the public stair-case 
by which her apartments were approached. 
All these apartments still remain, and are ex- 
plored annually by thousands of visitors. 

It was about seven o'clock in the evening 
that the conspirators were to execute their pur- 
pose. Morton remained below in the court 
with his troops, to prevent any interruption. 
He held a high office under the queen, which 
authorized him to bring a force into the court 
of the palace, and his doing so did not alarm 
the inmates. Ruthven was to head the party 
which was to commit the crime. He was con- 
fined to his bed with sickness at the time, but 

* See view of H<i yrood House, page 114 and compare it 
with this plan. 
11 



162 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

Mary at supper. Arrangements of the conspirators 

he was so eager to have a share in the pleasure 
of destroying Rizzio, that he left his bed, put 
on a suit of armor, and came forth to the work. 
The armor is preserved in the little apartment 
which was the scene of the tragedy to this day. 

Mary was at supper. Two near relatives 
and friends of hers — a gentleman and a lady — 
and Rizzio, were with her. The room is scarce- 
ly large enough to contain a greater number. 
There were, however, two or three servants in 
attendance at a side-table. Darnley came up, 
about eight o'clock, to make observations. The 
other conspirators were concealed in his room 
below, and it was agreed that if Darnley found 
any cause for not proceeding with the plan, he 
was to return immediately and give them no- 
tice. If, therefore, he should not return, after 
the lapse of a reasonable time, they were to fol- 
low him up the private stair-case, prepared to 
act at once and decidedly as soon as they should 
enter the room. They were to come up by this 
private stair-case, in order to avoid being inter- 
cepted or delayed by the domestics in attend- 
ance in the ante-room, R, of which there would 
have been danger if they had ascended by the 
public stair-case at T. 

Finding that Darnley did not return, Ruthven 



1566.] Rizzio. 163 

The little upper room. Murder of Rizzio. 

with his party ascended the stairs, entered the 
bed-chamber through the little door at d, and 
thence advanced to the door of the cabinet, his 
heavy iron armor clanking as he came. The 
queen, alarmed, demanded the meaning of this 
intrusion. Ruthven, whose countenance was 
grim and ghastly from the conjoined influence 
of ferocious passion and disease, said that they 
meant no harm to her, but they only wanted 
the villain who stood near her. Rizzio perceiv- 
ed that his hour was come. The attendants 
flocked in to the assistance of the queen and 
Rizzio. Ruthven's confederates advanced to 
join in the attack, and there ensued one of those 
scenes of confusion and terror, of which those 
who witness it have no distinct recollection on 
looking back upon it when it is over. Rizzio 
cried out in an agony of fear, and sought refuge 
behind the queen; the queen herself fainted; 
the table was overturned ; and Rizzio, having 
received one wound from a dagger, was seized 
and dragged out through the bed-chamber, B, 
and through the ante-room, _K, to the door, o, 
where he fell down, and w%,s stabbed by the 
murderers again and again, till he ceased to 
Irreathe. 

After this scene was over, Darnley and Ruth- 



164 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

Conversation. Violence of the conspirators. 

ven came coolly back into Mary's chamber, 
and, as soon as Mary recovered her senses, be- 
gan to talk of and to justify their act of vio- 
lence, without, however, telling her that Rizzio 
had been killed. Mary was filled with emo- 
tions of resentment and grief. She bitterly re- 
proached Darnley for such an act of cruelty as 
breaking into her apartment with armed men, 
and seizing and carrying off her friend. She 
told him that she had raised him from his com- 
paratively humble position to make him her 
husband, and now this was his return. Darn- 
ley replied that Rizzio had supplanted him in 
her confidence, and thwarted all his plans, and 
that Mary had shown herself utterly regardless 
of his wishes, under the influence of Rizzio. 
He said that, since Mary had made herself his 
wife, she ought to have obeyed him, and not 
put herself in such a way under the direction 
of another. Mary learned Rizzio's fate the 
next day. 

The violence of the conspirators did not stop 
with the destruction of Rizzio. Some of Mary's 
high officers of government, who were in the 
palace at the time, were obliged to make their 
escape from the windows to avoid being seized 
by Morton and his soldiers in the court. Among 



1566.] Rizzio. 165 

Mary a prisoner. Darnley s usurpation. 

them was the Earl Both well, who tried at first 
to drive Morton out, but in the end was obliged 
himself to flee. Some of these men let them- 
selves down by ropes from the outer windows. 
When the uproar and confusion caused by this 
struggle was over, they found that Mary, over- 
come with agitation and terror, was showing 
symptoms of fainting again, and they concluded 
to leave her. They informed her that she must 
consider herself a prisoner, and, setting a guard 
at the door of her apartment, they went away, 
leaving her to spend the night in an agony of 
resentment, anxiety, and fear. 

Lord Darnley took the government at once 
entirely into his own hands. He prorogued 
Parliament, which was then just commencing 
a sessio- , in his own name alone. He organ- 
ized an administration, Mary's officers having 
fled. In saying that he did these things, we 
mean, of course, that the conspirators did them 
in his name. He was still but a boy, scarcely 
out of his teens, and incapable of any other ac- 
tion in such an emergency but a blind compli- 
ance with the wishes of the crafty men who 
had got him into their power by gratifying his 
feelings of revenge. They took possession of 
the government in his name, and kept Mary a 
close prisoner, 



166 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566, 

Melville. Mary appeals to the provost. 

The murder was committed on Saturday 
night. The next morning, of course, was Sun- 
day. Melville was going out of the palace about 
ten o'clock. As he passed along under the win- 
dow where Mary was confined, she called out 
to him for help. He asked her what he could 
do for her. She told him to go to the provost 
of Edinburgh, the officer corresponding to the 
mayor of a city in this country, and ask him to 
call out the city guard, and come and release 
her from her captivity. " Go quick," said she, 
" or the guards will see you and stop you." Just 
then the guards came up and challenged Mel- 
ville. He told them he was going to the city 
to attend church ; so they let him pass on. He 
went to the provost, and delivered Mary's mes- 
sage. The provost said he dared not, and could 
not interfere. 

So Mary remained a prisoner. Her captiv- 
ity, however, was of short duration. In two 
days Darnley came to see her. He persuaded 
her that he himself had had nothing to do with 
the murder of Rkzio. Mary, on the other hand, 
persuaded him that it was better for them to be 
friends to each other than to live thus in a per- 
petual quarrel. She convinced him that Ruth- 
ven and his confederates were not, and could 



1566.] Rizzio. 167 

Mary defeats the conspirators. Birth of her son. 

not be, his friends. They would only make him 
the instrument of obtaining the objects of their 
ambition. Darnley saw this. He felt that he 
as well as Mary were in the rebels' power 
They formed a plan to escape together. They 
succeeded. They fled to a distant castle, and 
collected a large army, the people everv where 
flocking to the assistance of the queen. They 
returned to Edinburgh in a short time in tri- 
umph. The conspirators fled. Mary then de- 
cided to pardon and recall the old rebels, and ex- 
pend her anger henceforth on the new ; and 
thus the Earl Murray, her brother, was brought 
back, and once more restored to favor. 

After settling all these troubles, Mary retired 
to Edinburgh Castle, where it was supposed she 
could be best protected, and in the month of 
July following the murder of Rizzio, she gave 
birth to a son. In this son was afterward ac- 
complished all her fondest wishes, for he inher- 
ited in the end both the English and Scottish 
crowns 



168 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

Earl of Both well. His desperate character. Castle of Dunbar 



Chapter VIII. 

Bothwell. 

nptHE Earl of Bothwell was a man of great 
:*- energy of character, fearless and decided in 
all that he undertook, and sometimes perfectly 
reckless and uncontrollable. He was in Scot- 
land at the time of Mary's return from France, 
but he was so turbulent and unmanageable that 
he was at one time sent into banishment. He 
was, however, afterward recalled, and again in- 
trusted with power. He entered ardently into 
Mary's service in her contest with the murder- 
ers of Rizzio. He assisted her in raising an 
army after her flight, and in conquering Morton, 
Ruthven, and the rest, and driving them out of 
the country. Mary soon began to look upon 
him as, notwithstanding his roughness, her best 
and most efficient friend. As a reward for 
these services, she granted him a castle, situ- 
ated in a romantic position on the eastern coast 
of Scotland. It was called the Castle of Dun- 
bar. It was on a stormy promontory, over- 
looking the German Ocean : a very appropriate 




1566.] Bothwell. 169 

The border country. Scenes of violence and blood. 

retreat and fastness for such a man of iron 
as he. 

In those days, the border country between 
England and Scotland was the resort of rob* 
bers, freebooters, and outlaws from both lands. 
If pursued by one government, they could re- 
treat across the line and be safe. Incursions, 
too, were continually made across this frontier 
by the people of either side, to plunder or to 
destroy whatever property was within reach. 
Thus the country became a region of violence 
and bloodshed which all men of peace and qui- 
etness were glad to shun. They left it to the 
possession of men who could find pleasure in 
such scenes of violence and blood. When Queen 
Mary had got quietly settled in her government, 
after the overthrow of the murderers of Rizzio, 
as she thus no longer needed Bothwell's imme- 
diate aid, she sent him to this border country 
to see if he could enforce some sort of order 
among its lawless population. 

The birth of Mary's son was an event of the 
greatest importance, not only to her personally, 
but in respect to the political prospects of the 
two great kingdoms, for in this infant were 
combined the claims of succession to both the 
Scotch and English crowns. The whole world 



170 Mary Queen of Scots [1566 

Birth of James. Its political importance. Darnley's conduct 

know that if Elizabeth should die without leav- 
ing a direct heir, this child would become the 
monarch both of England and Scotland, and, as 
such, one of the greatest personages in Europe. 
His birth, therefore, was a great event, and it 
was celebrated in Scotland with universal re- 
joicings. The tidings of it spread, as news of 
great public interest, all over Europe. Even 
Elizabeth pretended to be pleased, and sent mes- 
sages of congratulation to Mary. But every one 
thought that they could see in her air and man- 
ner, when she received the intelligence, obvious 
traces of mortification and chagrin. 

Mary's heart was filled, at first, with mater- 
nal pride and joy ; but her happiness was soon 
sadly alloyed by Darnley's continued unkind- 
ness. She traveled about during the autumn, 
from castle to castle, anxious and ill at ease. 
Sometimes Darnley followed her, and some- 
times he amused himself with hunting, and 
with various vicious indulgences, at different 
towns and castles at a distance from her. He 
wanted her to dismiss her ministry and put him 
into power, and he took every possible means 
to importune or tease her into compliance with 
this plan. At one time he said he had resolved 
to leave Scotland, and go and reside in Franco ; 



L566.] Bothwell. 171 

Darnley's hypocrisy. Mary's dejection 

and he pretended to make his preparations, and 
to be about to take his leave. He seems to have 
thought that Mary, though he knew that she 
no longer loved him, would be distressed at the 
idea of being abandoned by one who was, after 
all, her husband. Mary was, in fact, distressed 
at this proposal, and urged him not to go. He 
seemed determined, and took his leave. Instead 
of going to France, however, he only went to 
Stirling Castle. 

Darnley, fmding that he could not accom- 
plish his aims by such methods as these, wrote, 
it is said, to the Catholic governments of Eu- 
rope, proposing that, if they would co-operate 
in putting him into power in Scotland, he would 
adopt efficient measures for changing the relig- 
ion of the country from the Protestant to the 
Catholic faith. He made, too, every effort to 
organize a party in his favor in Scotland, and 
tried to defeat and counteract the influence of 
Mary's government by every means in his pow- 
er. These things, and other trials and difficul- 
ties connected with them, weighed very heav- 
ily upon Mary's mind. She sunk gradually 
into a state of great dejection and despondency. 
She spent many hours in sighing and in tears, 
and often wished that she was in her grave. 



172 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

A divorce proposed. Mary's love for her child. 

So deeply, in fact, was Mary plunged into 
distress and trouble by the state of things ex- 
isting between herself and Darnley, that some 
of her officers of government began to conceive 
of a plan of having her divorced from him. 
After looking at this subject in all its bearings, 
and consulting about it with each other, they 
ventured, at last, to propose it to Mary. She 
would not listen to any such plan. She did 
not think a divorce could be legally accom- 
plished. And then, if it were to be done, it 
would, she feared, in some way or other, affect 
the position and rights of the darling son who 
was now to her more than all the world be- 
sides. She would rather endure to the end of 
her days the tyranny and torment she experi- 
enced from her brutal husband, than hazard in 
the least degree the future greatness and glory 
of the infant who was lying in his cradle be- 
fore her, equally unconscious of the grandeur 
which awaited him in future years, and of the 
strength of the maternal love which was smil- 
ing upon him from amid such sorrow and 
tears, and extending over him such gentle, but 
determined and effectual protection. 

The sad and sorrowful feelings which Mary 
endured were interrupted for a little time bv 






1566.] Bothwell. 173 

Baptism of the infant. James's titles. 

the splendid pageant of the baptism of the child. 
Embassadors came from all the important courts 
of the Continent to do honor to the occasion. 
Elizabeth sent the Earl of Bedford as her em- 
bassador, with a present of a baptismal font of 
gold, which had cost a sum equal to five thousand 
dollars. The baptism took place at Stirling, in 
December, with every possible accompaniment 
of pomp and parade, and was followed by many 
days of festivities and rejoicing. The whole 
country were interested in the event except 
Darnley, who declared sullenly, while the prep- 
arations were making, that he should not re- 
main to witness the ceremony, but should go 
off a day or two before the appointed time. 

The ceremony was performed in the chapel. 
The child was baptized under the names of 
" Charles James, James Charles, Prince and 
Steward of Scotland, Duke of Rothesay, Earl 
of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, and Baron of Ren- 
frew." His subsequent designation in history 
was James Sixth of Scotland and First of En- 
gland. A great many appointments of attend- 
ants and officers, to be attached to the service 
of the young prince, were made immediately, 
most of them, of course, mere matters of pa- 
rade. Among the rest, five ladies of distinc- 



174 Mary Queen of Scots. [1566. 

The prince's cradle. Bothwell and Murray. 

tion were constituted " rockers of his cradle." 
The form of the young prince's cradle has come 
down to us in an ancient drawing. 




In due time after the coronation, the various 
embassadors and delegates returned to their re- 
spective courts, carrying back glowing accounts 
of the ceremonies and festivities attendant upon 
the christening, and of the grace, and beauty, 
and loveliness of the queen. 

In the mean time, Bothwell and Murray 
were competitors for the confidence and regard 
of the queen, and it began to seem probable 
that Bothwell would win the day. Mary, in 
one of her excursions, was traveling in the 
southern part of the country, when she heard 
that he had been wounded in an encounter 
with a party of desperadoes near the border 



1566.] Bothwell. 175 

Mary's visit to Bothwell. Its.probable motive. 

Moved partly, perhaps, by compassion, and 
partly by gratitude for his services, Mary 
made an expedition across the country to pay 
him a visit. Some say that she was animated 
by a more powerful motive than either of these. 
In fact this, as well as almost all the other acts 
of Mary's life, are presented in very different 
lights by her friends and her enemies. The 
former say that this visit to her lieutenant hi 
his confinement from a wound received in her 
service was perfectly proper, both in the design 
itself, and in all the circumstances of its exe- 
cution. The latter represent it as an instance 
of highly indecorous eagerness on the part of a 
married lady to express to another man a sym- 
pathy and kind regard which she had ceased to 
feel for her husband. 

Bothwell himself was married as well as 
Mary. He had been married but a few months 
to a beautiful lady a few years younger than 
the queen. The question, however, whether 
Mary did right or wrong in paying this visit to 
him, is not, after all, a very important one. 
There is no doubt that she and Bothwell loved 
each other before they ought to have done so, 
and it is of comparatively little consequence 
when the attachment began The end of it is 



176 Mary Queen of Sccts. [1567. 



Plot for Darnley's destruction. Bothwell's intrigues 

certain. Both well resolved to kill Darnley, to 
get divorced from his own wife, and to marry 
the queen. The world has never yet settled 
the question whether she was herself his accom- 
plice or not in the measures he adopted for ef- 
fecting these plans, or whether she only sub- 
mitted to the result when Bothwell, by his own 
unaided efforts, reached it. Each reader must 
judge of this question for himself from the facts 
about to be narrated. 

Bothwell first communicated with the nobles 
about the court, to get their consent and ap- 
probation to the destruction of the king. They 
all appeared to be very willing to have the thing 
done, but were a little cautious about involv- 
ing themselves hi the responsibility of doing it. 
Darnley was thoroughly hated, despised, and 
shunned by them all. Still they were afraid 
of the consequences of taking his life. One of 
them, Morton, asked Bothwell what the queer 
would think of the plan. Bothwell said thai 
the queen approved of it. Morton replied, that 
if Bothwell would show him an expression of 
the queen's approval of the plot, in her own 
hand- writing, he would join it, otherwise not. 
Bothwell failed to furnish this evidence, saying 
that the queen was really privy to, and in favor 



1567.] Bothwell. 177 

Desperate schemes attributed to Darnley. His illness. Mary's visit 

of the plan, but that it was not to be expected 
that she would commit herself to it in writing. 
Was this all true, or was the pretense only a 
desperate measure of Bothwell's to induce Mor- 
ton to join him ? 

Most of the leading men about the court, 
however, either joined the plot, or so far gave 
it their countenance and encouragement as to 
induce Bothwell to proceed. There were many 
and strange rumors about Darnley. One was, 
that he was actually going to leave the coun- 
try, and that a ship was ready for him in the 
Clyde. Another was, that he had a plan for 
seizing the young prince, dethroning Mary, and 
reigning himself in her stead, in the prince's 
name. Other strange and desperate schemes 
were attributed to him. In the midst of them, 
news came to Mary at Holyrood that he was 
taken suddenly and dangerously sick at Glas- 
gow, where he was then residing, and she im- 
mediately went to see him. Was her motive 
a desire to make one more attempt to win his 
confidence and love, and to divert him from the 
desperate measures which she feared he was con- 
templating, or was she acting, as an accomplice 
with Bothwell, to draw him into the snare in 
which he was afterward taken and destroyed ? 
12 



178 Mary Queen op Scots. [156? 

Return to Edinburgh. Situation of Darnley's residence 

The result of Mary's visit to her husband, 
after some time spent with him in Glasgow, 
was a proposal that he should return with her 
to Edinburgh, where she could watch over him 
during his convalescence with greater care. 
This plan was adopted. He was conveyed on 
a sort of litter, by very slow and easy stages, 
toward Edinburgh. He was on such terms 
with the nobles and lords in attendance upon 
Mary that he was not willing to go to Holy- 
rood House. Besides, his disorder was conta- 
gious : it is supposed to have been the small- 
pox ; and though he was nearly recovered, there 
was still some possibility that the royal babe 
might take the infection if the patient came 
within the same walls with him. So Mary sent 
forward to Edinburgh to have a house provided 
for him. 

The situation of this house is seen near the cit) 
wall on the left, in the accompanying view of 
Edinburgh. Holyrood House is the large square 
edifice in the fore-ground, and the castle crowns 
the hill in the distance. There is now, as there 
was in the days of Mary, a famous street ex- 
tending from Holyrood House to the castle, call- 
ed the Cannon Gate at the lower end, and the 
High Street above. This street, with the cas- 



1567.] Bothwell. 181 

Kirk of Field. Description of Darnley's residence, 

tie at one extremity and Holyrood House at 
the other, were the scenes of many of the 
most remarkable events described in this nar- 
rative. 

The residence selected was a house of four 
rooms, close upon the city wall. The place 
was called the Kirk of Field, from a kirk, or 
church, which formerly stood near there, in the 
fields. 

This house had two rooms upon the lower 
floor, with a passage-way between them. One 
of these rooms was a kitchen ; the other was 
appropriated to Mary's use, whenever she was 
able to be at the place in attendance upon her 
husband. Over the kitchen was a room used 
as a wardrobe and for servants ; and over Ma- 
ry's room was the apartment for Darnley. 
There was an opening through the city wall in 
the rear of this dwelling, by which there was 
access to the kitchen. These premises were 
fitted up for Darnley in the most thorough man- 
ner. A bath was arranged for him in his apart- 
ment, and every thing was done which could 
conduce to his comfort, according to the ideas 
which then prevailed. Darnley was brought to 
Edinburgh, conveyed to this house, and quietly 
established there. 



182 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 



Plan of Darnley's house. 



Its accommodations. 



The following is a plan of the house in which 
Darnley was lodged : 



N. 



A 



Convent 
gardens. 



wall / 



Lane. 



Wall. 



Fields. 



M. Mary's room, below Darnley's. K. Kitchen ; servants' room above. 
G> Passage through the city wall into the kitchen. S. Stair-case leading 
to the second story. P. Passage-way. 

The accommodations in this house do not 
seem to have been very sumptuous, after all, 
for a royal guest ; but royal dwellings in Scot- 
land, in those days, were not what they are now 
in Westminster and at St. Cloud. 

The day for the execution of the plan, which 
was, to blow up the house where the sick Darn- 
ley was lying, with gunpowder, approached. 



1567.] Both well. 183 

French Paris. The gunpowder. A wedding. 

Bothwell selected a number of desperate char- 
acters to aid him in the actual work to be done. 
One of these was a Frenchman, who had been 
for a long time in his service, and who went 
commonly by the name of French Paris. Both- 
well contrived to get French Paris taken into 
Mary's service a few days before the murder of 
Darnley, and, through him, he got possession of 
some of the keys of the house which Darnley 
was occupying, and thus had duplicates of them 
made, so that he had access to every part of 
the hou^e. The gunpowder was brought from 
Bothwell's castle at Dunbar, and all was ready 
Mary spent much of her time at Darnley's 
house, and often slept in the room beneath his, 
which had been allotted to her as her apart- 
ment. One Sunday there was to be a wedding 
at Holyrood. The bride and bridegroom were 
favorite servants of Mary's, and she was intend- 
ing to be present at the celebration of the nup- 
tials. She was to leave Darnley's early in the 
evening for this purpose. Her enemies say 
that this was all a concerted arrangement be- 
tween her and Bothwell to give him the oppor- 
tunity to execute his plan. Her friends, on the 
other hand, insist that she knew nothing about 
it, and that Bothwell had to wa*ch and wait for 



184 Mary Queen of Scots. [l567 

Details of the plot. The powder placed in Mary's room. 

such an opportunity of blowing up the house 
without injuring Mary. Be this as it may, the 
Sunday of this wedding was fixed upon for the 
consummation of the deed. 

The gunpowder had been secreted in Both- 
well's rooms at the palace. On Sunday even- 
ing, as soon as it was dark, Bothwell set the 
men at work to transport the gunpowder. They 
brought it out in bags from the palace, and then 
employed a horse to transport it to the wall of 
some gardens which were in the rear of Darn- 
ley's house. They had to go twice with the 
horse in order to convey all the gunpowder that 
they had provided. While this was going on, 
Bothwell, who kept out of sight, was walking 
to and fro in an adjoining street, to receive in- 
telligence, from time to time, of the progress of 
the affair, and to issue orders. The gunpow- 
der was conveyed across the gardens to the rear 
of the house, taken in at a back door, and de- 
posited in the room marked M in the plan, 
which was the room belonging to Mary. Mary 
was all this time directly over head, in Darnley's 
chamber. 

The plan of the conspirators was to put the 
bags of gunpowder into a cask which they had 
provided for the occasion, to keep the mass to- 



1567.] Both well. 185 

The big cask. Bothwell's effrontery. Mary's leave of Darnley. 

, _ 

gether, and increase the force of the explosion 
The cask had been provided, and placed in the 
gardens behind the house ; but, on attempting 
to take it into the house, they found it too big 
to pass through the back door. This caused con- 
siderable delay ; and Bothwell, growing impa- 
tient, came, with his characteristic impetuos- 
ity, to ascertain the cause. By his presence 
and his energy, he soon remedied the difficulty 
in some way or other, and completed the ar- 
rangements. The gunpowder was all deposit- 
ed ; the men were dismissed, except two who 
were left to watch, and who were locked up 
with the gunpowder in Mary's room ; and then, 
all things being ready for the explosion as soon 
as Mary should be gone, Bothwell walked up 
to Darnley's room above, and joined the party 
who were supping there. The cool effrontery 
of this proceeding has scarcely a parallel in the 
annals of crime. 

At eleven o'clock Mary rose to go, saying 
she must return to the palace to take part, as 
she had promised to do, in the celebration of 
her servants' wedding. Mary took leave of her 
husband in a very affectionate manner, and went 
away in company with Bothwell and the other 
nobles. Her enemies maintain that she was 



186 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 

Was Mary privy to the plot ? __ Anecdotes of Mary, 

privy to all the arrangements which had been 
made, and that she did not go into her own 
apartment below, knowing very well what was 
there. But even if we imagine that Mary was 
aware of the general plan of destroying her hus- 
band, and was secretly pleased with it, as al- 
most any royal personage that ever lived, under 
such circumstances, would be, we need not ad- 
mit that she was acquainted with the details of 
the mode by which the plan was to be put in 
execution. The most that we can suppose such 
a man as Bothwell would have communicated 
to her, would be some dark and obscure inti- 
mations of his design, made in order to satisfy 
himself that she would not really oppose it. To 
ask her, woman as she was, to take any part 
in such a deed, or to communicate to her be- 
forehand any of the details of the arrangement, 
would have been an act of littleness and mean- 
ness which such magnanimous monsters as Both- 
well are seldom guilty of. 

Besides, Mary remarked that evening, in 
Darnley's room, in the course of conversation, 
that it was just about a year since Rizzio's 
death. On entering her palace, too, at Holy- 
rood, that night, she met one of Bothwell's serv- 
ants who had been carrying the bags, and, per- 



1567.] Both well. 187 

Return to Holyrood. French Paris falters. 

ceiving the smell of gunpowder, she asked him 
what it meant. Now Mary was not the bra- 
zen-faced sort of woman to speak of such things 
at such a time if she was really in the councils 
of the conspirators. The only question seems 
to be, therefore, not whether she was a party to 
the actual deed of murder, but only whether 
she was aware of, and consenting to, the gen- 
eral design. 

In the mean time, Mary and Both well went 
together into the hall where the servants were 
rejoicing and making merry at the wedding. 
French Paris was there, but his heart began to 
fail him in respect to the deed in which he had 
been engaged. He stood apart, with a coun- 
tenance expressive of anxiety and distress. 
Bothwell went to him, and told him that if he 
carried such a melancholy face as that any lon- 
ger in the presence of the queen, he would make 
him suffer for it. The poor conscience-stricken 
man begged Bothwell to release him from any 
further part in the transaction. He was sick, 
really sick, he said, and he wanted to go home 
to his bed. Bothwell made no reply but to or- 
der him to follow him. Bothwell went to his 
own rooms, changed the silken court dress in 
which he had appeared in company for one suit- 



188 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 

The convent gardens. Laying the train. 

able to the night and to the deed, directed his 
men to follow him, and passed from the palace 
toward the gates of the city. The gates were 
shut, for it was midnight. The sentinels chal- 
lenged them. The party said they were friends 
to my Lord Bothwell, and were allowed to pass 
on. 

They advanced to the convent gardens. 
Here they left a part of their number, while 
Bothwell and French Paris passed over the 
wall, and crept softly into the house. They 
unlocked the room where they had left the two 
watchmen with the gunpowder, and found all 
safe. Men locked up under such circumstan- 
ces, and on the eve of the perpetration of such 
a deed, were not likely to sleep at their posts. 
All things being now ready, they made a slow 
match of lint, long enough to burn for some 
little time, and inserting one end of it into the 
gunpowder, they lighted the other end, and 
crept stealthily out of the apartment. They 
passed over the wall into the convent gardens, 
where they rejoined their companions and await- 
ed the result. 

Men choose midnight often for the perpetra- 
tion of crime, from the facilities afforded by its 
silence and solitude. This advantage is, how- 



1567.] Bothwell. 189 

Suspense. The explosion. Flight of the criminals. 

ever, sometimes well-nigh balanced by the stim- 
ulus which its mysterious solemnity brings to 
the stings of remorse and terror. Bothwell 
himself felt anxious and agitated. They wait- 
ed and waited, but it seemed as if their dread- 
ful suspense would never end. Bothwell be- 
came desperate. He wanted to get over the 
wall again and look in at the window, to see if 
the slow match had not gone out. The rest 
restrained him. At length the explosion came 
like a clap of thunder. The flash brightened 
for an instant over the whole sky, and the re- 
port roused the sleeping inhabitants of Edin- 
burgh from their slumbers, throwing the whole 
city into sudden consternation. 

The perpetrators of the deed, finding that 
their work was done, fled immediately. They 
tried various plans to avoid the sentinels at the 
gates of the city, as well as the persons who 
were beginning to come toward the scene of 
the explosion. When they reached the palace 
of Holyrood, they were challenged by the sen- 
tinel on duty there. They said that they were 
friends of Earl Bothwell, bringing dispatches to 
him from the country. The sentinel asked 
them if they knew what was the cause of that 
loud explosion. They said they did not, and 
passed on. 



190 Mary Queen of Sccts. [1567. 

Mary's indignation. Bothwell arrested, tried, and acquitted. 

Bothwell went to his room, called for a drink, 
undressed himself, and went to bed. Half an 
hour afterward, messengers came to awaken 
him, and inform him that the king's house had 
been blown up with gunpowder, and the king 
himself killed by the explosion. He rose with 
an appearance of great astonishment and indig- 
nation, and, after conferring with some of the 
other nobles, concluded to go and communicate 
the event to the queen. The queen was over- 
whelmed with astonishment and indignation too. 

The destruction of Darnley in such a man- 
ner as this, of course produced a vast sensation 
all over Scotland. Every body was on the alert 
to discover the authors of the crime. Rewards 
were offered ; proclamations were made. Ru- 
mors began to circulate that Bothwell was 
the criminal. He was accused by anonymous 
placards put up at night in Edinburgh. Len- 
nox, Darnley's father, demanded his trial ; and 
a trial was ordered. The circumstances of the 
trial were such, however, and Bothwell's power 
and desperate recklessness were so great, that 
Lennox, when the time came, did not appear. 
He said he had not force enough at his com- 
mand to come safely into court. There being 
no testimony offered, Bothwell was acquitted ; 



1567.] Both well. 191 

Bothwell's challenge. His plan to marry Mary 

and he immediately afterward issued his proc- 
lamation, offering to fight any man who should 
intimate, in any way, that he was concerned in 
the murder of the king. Thus Bothwell estab- 
lished his innocence ; at least, no man dared to 
gainsay it. 

Darnley was murdered in February. Both- 
well was tried and acquitted in April. Imme- 
diately afterward, he took measures for private- 
ly making known to the leading nobles that it 
was his design to marry the queen, and for se- 
curing their concurrence in the plan. They 
concurred ; or at least, perhaps for fear of dis- 
pleasing such a desperado, said what he under- 
stood to mean that they concurred. The queen 
heard the reports of such a design, and said, as 
ladies often do in similar cases, that she did not 
know what people meant by such reports ; there 
was no foundation for them whatever. 

Toward the end of April, Mary was about 
returning from the castle of Stirling to Edin- 
burgh with a small escort of troops and attend- 
ants. Melville was in her train. Bothwell 
set out at the head of a force of more than five 
hundred men to intercept her. Mary lodged 
one night, on her way, at Linlithgow, the pal- 
ace where she was born, and the next morning 



192 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 



The abduction. Mary's confinement at T)unbar. Her account of it 

was quietly pursuing her journey, when Both- 
well came up at the head of his troops. Resist- 
ance was vain. Bothwell advanced to Mary's 
horse, and, taking the bridle, led her away. A 
few of her principal followers were taken pris- 
oners too, and the rest were dismissed. Both- 
well took his captive across the country by a 
rapid flight to his castle of Dunbar. The at- 
tendants who were taken with her were releas- 
ed, and she remained in the Castle of Dunbar 
for ten days, entirely in Bothwell's power. 

According to the account which Mary her- 
self gives of what took place during this cap- 
tivity, she at first reproached Bothwell bitterly 
for the ungrateful and cruel return he was mak- 
ing for all her kindness to him, by such a deed 
of violence and wrong, and begged and entreat- 
ed him to let her go. Bothwell replied that he 
knew that it was wrong for him to treat his 
sovereign so rudely, but that he was impelled 
to it by the circumstances of the case, and by 
love which he felt for her, which was too strong 
for him to control. He then entreated her to 
become his wife ; he complained of the bitter 
hostility which he had always been subject to 
from his enemies, and that he could have no 
safeguard from this hostility in time to come, 



w 



H 




1567.] Bothwell. 195 

Bothwell entreats Mary to marry him. She consents. 

but in her favor ; and he could not depend upon 
any assurance of her favor less than her mak- 
ing him her husband. He protested that, if 
she would do so, he would never ask to share 
her power, but would be content to be her faith- 
ful and devoted servant, as he had always been. 
It was love, not ambition, he said, that animat- 
ed him, and he could not and would not be re- 
fused. Mary says that she was distressed and 
agitated beyond measure by the appeals and 
threats with which Bothwell accompanied his 
urgent entreaties. She tried every way to plan 
some mode of escape. Nobody came to her 
rescue. She was entirely alone, and in Both- 
well's power. Bothwell assured her that the 
leading nobles of her court were in favor of the 
marriage, and showed her a written agreement 
signed by them to this effect. At length, 
wearied and exhausted, she was finally over- 
come by his urgency, and yielding partly to 
his persuasions, and partly, as she says, to 
force, gave herself up to his power. 

Mary remained at Dunbar about ten days, 
during which time Bothwell sued out and ob- 
tained a divorce from his wife. His wife, feel- 
ing, perhaps, resentment more than grief, sued, 
at the same time, for a divorce from him. Both- 



196 Mary Queen op Scots. [1567 

Bothwell's pardon. The marriage. Doubts in respect to Mary 

well then sallied forth from his fastness at 
Dunbar, and, taking Mary with him, went to 
Edinburgh, and took up his abode in the cas- 
tle there, as that fortress was then under his 
power. Mary soon after appeared in public, 
and stated that she was now entirely free, and 
that, although Bothwell had done wrong in car- 
rying her away by violence, still he had treated 
her since in so respectful a manner, that she 
had pardoned him, and had received him intc> 
favor again. A short time after this they were 
married. The ceremony was performed in a 
very private and unostentatious manner, and 
took place in May, about three months after 
the murder of Darnley. 

By some persons Mary's account of the trans- 
actions at Dunbar is believed. Others think 
that the whole affair was all a preconcerted 
plan, and that the appearance of resistance on 
her part was only for show, to justify, in some 
degree, in the eyes of the world, so imprudent 
and inexcusable a marriage. A great many 
volumes have been written on the question, 
without making any progress toward a settle- 
ment of it. It is one of those cases where, the 
evidence being complicated, conflicting, and in- 
complete, the mind is swayed by the feelings. 



1567.] Bothwell. 197 

Influence of beauty and misfortune. 

and the readers of the story decide more or less 
favorably for the unhappy queen, according to 
the warmth of the interest awakened in their 
hearts by beauty and misfortune. 



198 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 

Mary's infatuation. Excuses for her. 






Chapter IX. 

The Fall of Bothwell. 

FflHE course which Mary pursued after her 
-*- liberation from Dunbar in yielding to Both- 
well's wishes, pardoning his violence, receiving 
him again into favor, and becoming his wife, is 
one of the most extraordinary instances of the 
infatuation produced by love that has ever oc- 
curred. If the story had been fiction instead 
of truth, it would have been pronounced extrav- 
agant and impossible. As it was, the whole 
country was astonished and confounded at such 
a rapid succession of desperate and unaccount- 
able crimes. Mary herself seems to have been 
hurried through these terrible scenes in a sort of 
delirium of excitement, produced by the strange 
circumstances of the case, and the wild and un- 
controllable agitations to which they gave rise. 
Such was, however, at the time, and such 
continues to be still, the feeling of interest in 
Mary's character and misfortunes, that but few 
open and direct censures of her conduct were 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 199 

Mary's deep depression. Interposition of the King of France. 

then, or have been since, expressed. People 
execrated Bothwell, but they were silent in re- 
spect to Mary. It was soon plain, however, 
that she had greatly sunk in their regard, and 
that the more they reflected upon the circum- 
stances of the case, the deeper she was sinking. 
When the excitement, too, began to pass away 
from her own mind, it left behind it a gnawing 
inquietude and sense of guilt, which grew grad- 
ually more and more intense, until, at length, 
she sunk under the stings of remorse and de- 
spair. 

Her sufferings were increased by the evi- 
dences which were continually coming to her 
mind of the strong degree of disapprobation with 
which her conduct began soon every where to 
be regarded. Wherever Scotchmen traveled, 
they found themselves reproached with the 
deeds of violence and crime of which their 
country had been the scene. Marv's relatives 
and friends in France wrote to her, expressing 
their surprise and grief at such proceedings. 
The King of France had sent, a short time be- 
fore, a special embassador for the purpose of 
doing something, if possible, to discover and 
punish the murderers of Darnley. His name 
was Le Croc. He was an aged and venerable 



200 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 

Bothwell at Edinburgh Castle. He is hated by the people. 

man, of great prudence and discretion, well 
qualified to discover and pursue the way of es- 
cape from the difficulties in which Mary had 
involved herself, if any such way could be found. 
He arrived before the day of Mary's marriage, 
but he refused to take any part, or even to be 
present, at the ceremony. 

In the mean time, Bothwell continued in Ed- 
inburgh Castle for a while, under the protec- 
tion of a strong guard. People considered this 
guard as intended to prevent Mary's escape, 
and many thought that she was detained, after 
all, against her will, and that her admissions 
that she was free were only made at the insti- 
gation of Bothwell, and from fear of his terri- 
ble power. The other nobles and the people of 
Scotland began to grow more and more uneasy 
The fear of Bothwell began to be changed into 
hatred, and the more powerful nobles commenced 
forming plans for combining together, and res 
cuing, as they said, Mary out of his power. 

Bothwell made no attempts to conciliate 
them. He assumed an air and tone of defiance. 
He increased his forces. He conceived the plan 
of going to Stirling Castle to seize the young 
prince, who was residing there under the charge 
of persons to whom his education had been in- 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 201 

The opposing parties. How far Mary was responsible. 

trusted. He said to his followers that James 
should never do any thing to avenge his father's 
death, if he could once get him into his hands. 
The other nobles formed a league to counteract 
these designs. They began to assemble their 
forces, and every thing threatened an outbreak 
of civil war. 

The marriage took place about the middle 
of May, and within a fortnight from that time 
the lines began to be pretty definitely drawn 
between the two great parties, the queen and 
Bothwell on one side, and the insurgent nobles 
on the other, each party claiming to be friends 
of the queen. Whatever was done on Both- 
well's side was, of course, in the queen's name, 
though it is very doubtful how far she was re- 
sponsible for what was done, or how far, on the 
other hand, she merely aided, under the influ- 
ence of a species of compulsion, in carrying into 
execution Bothwell's measures. We must say, 
in narrating the history, that the queen did this 
and that, and must leave the reader to judge 
whether it was herself, or Bothwell acting 
through her, who was the real agent in the 
transactions described. 

Stirling Castle, where the young prince was 
residing, is northwest of Edinburgh. The con- 



202 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Melrose. Ruins of the abbey. Mary's proclamation. 

federate lords were assembling in that vicinity. 
The border country between England and Scot- 
land is of course south. In the midst of this 
border country is the ancient town of Melrose, 
where there was, in former days, a very rich 
and magnificent abbey 3 the ruins of which, to 
this day, form one of the most attractive ob- 
jects of interest in the whole island of Great 
Britain. The region is now the abode of peace, 
and quietness, and plenty, though in Mary's 
day it was the scene of continual turmoil and 
war. It is now the favorite retreat of poets and 
philosophers, who seek their residences there 
on account of its stillness and peace. Sir Wal- 
ter Scott's Abbotsford is a few miles from Mel- 
rose. 

About a fortnight after Mary's marriage, 
she issued a proclamation ordering the military 
chiefs in her kingdom to assemble at Melrose, 
with their followers, to accompany her on an 
expedition through the border country, to sup- 
press some disorders there. The nobles con- 
sidered this as only a scheme of Bothwell's to 
draw them away from the neighborhood of Stir- 
ling, so that he might go and get possession 
of the young prince. Rumors of this spread 
around the country, and the forces, instead of 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 203 

The prince's lords. Bothwell alarmed. Borthwick Castle. 

proceeding to Melrose, began to assemble in the 
neighborhood of Stirling, for the protection of 
the prince. The lords under whose banners 
they gathered assumed the name of the prince's 
lords, and they called upon the people to take 
up arms in defense of young James's person and 
rights. The prince's lords soon began to con- 
centrate their forces about Edinburgh, and 
Bothwell was alarmed for his safety. He had 
reason to fear that the governor of Edinburgh 
Castle was on their side, and that he might sud- 
denly sally forth with a body of his forces down 
the High Street to Holyrood, and take him pris- 
oner. He accordingly began to think it neces- 
sary to retreat. 

Now Bothwell had, among his other posses- 
sions, a certain castle called Borthwick Castle, 
a few miles south of Edinburgh. It was sit- 
uated on a little swell of land in a beautiful val- 
ley. It was surrounded with groves of trees, 
and from the windows and walls of the castle 
there was an extended view over the beautiful 
and fertile fields of the valley. This castle was 
extensive and strong. It consisted of one great 
square tower, surrounded and protected by walls 
and bastions, and was approached by a draw- 
bridge. In the sudden emergency in which 



204 Mary Queen of Scots. [156?. 

Bothwell's retreat. He is besieged. Makes his escape. 

Bothwell found himself placed, this fortress 
seemed to be the most convenient and the 
surest retreat. On the 6th of June, he accord- 
ingly left Edinburgh with as large a force as 
he had at command, and rode rapidly across the 
country with the queen, and established him- 
self at Borthwick. 

The prince's lords, taking fresh courage from 
the evidence of Bothwell's weakness and fear, 
immediately marched from Stirling, passed by 
Edinburgh, and almost immediately after Both- 
well and the queen had got safely, as they im- 
agined, established in the place of their retreat, 
they found their castle surrounded and hemmed 
in on all sides by hostile forces, which filled the; 
whole valley. The castle was strong, but not 
strong enough to withstand a siege from such 
an army. Bothwell accordingly determined to 
retreat to his castle of Dunbar, which, being 
on a rocky promontory, jutting into the sea, 
and more remote from the heart of the country, 
was less accessible, and more safe than Borth- 
wick. He contrived, though with great diffi- 
culty, to make his escape with the queen, 
through the ranks of his enemies. It is said 
that the queen was disguised in male attire. 
At any rate, they made their escape, they reach- 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 205 

Bothwell at Dunbar. Proclamation. Approaching contest. 

ed Dunbar, and Mary, or Bothwell in her name, 
immediately issued a proclamation, calling upon 
all her faithful subjects to assemble in arms, to 
deliver her from her dangers. At the same time, 
the prince's lords issued their proclamation, call- 
ing, upon all faithful subjects to assemble with 
them, to aid them in delivering the queen from 
the tyrant who held her captive. 

The faithful subjects were at a loss which 
proclamation to obey. By far the greater num 
ber joined the insurgents. Some thousands, 
however, went to Dunbar. With this force the 
queen and Bothwell sallied forth, about the 
middle of June, to meet the prince's lords, or 
the insurgents, as they called them, to settle 
the question at issue by the kind of ballot with 
which such questions were generally settled in 
those days. 

Mary had a proclamation read at the head of 
her army, now that she supposed she was on 
the eve of battle, in which she explained the 
causes of the quarrel. The proclamation stated 
that the marriage was Mary's free act, and that, 
alt lough it was in some respects an extraordi- 
nary one, still the circumstances were such that 
she could not do otherwise than she had done. 
For ten days she had be*3n in Bothwell's pow- 



206 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Mary's appeal. Approach of the prince's lords. Carberry Hill. 

er in his castle at Dunbar, and not an arm had 
been raised for her deliverance. Her subjects 
ought to have interposed then, if they were in- 
tending really to rescue her from Bothwell's 
power. They had done nothing then, but now, 
when she had been compelled, by the cruel cii- 
cumstances of her condition, to marry Both- 
well — when the act was done, and could no lon- 
ger be recalled, they had taken up arms against 
her, and compelled her to take the field in her 
own defense. 

The army of the prince's lords, with Mary's 
most determined enemies at their head, ad- 
vanced to meet the queen's forces. The queen 
finally took her post on an elevated piece of 
ground called Carberry Hill. Carberry is an 
old Scotch name for gooseberry. Carberry Hill 
is a few miles to the eastward of Edinburgh, 
near Dalkeith. Here the two armies were 
drawn up, opposite to each other, in hostile ar- 
ray. 

Le Croc, the aged and venerable French em- 
bassador, made a great effort to effect an ac- 
commodation and prevent a battle. He first 
went to the queen and obtained authority from 
her to offer terms of peace, and then went to 
tfie :amp of the prince's lords and proposed that 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 207 

Efforts of Le Croc to effect an accommodation. Bothwell's challenge. 

they should lay down their arms and submit to 
the queen's authority, and that she would for- 
give and forget what they had done. They re- 
plied that they had done no wrong, and asked 
for no pardon ; that they were not in arms 
against the queen's authority, but in favor of 
it. They sought only to deliver her from the 
durance in which she was held, and to bring to 
punishment the murderers of her husband, who- 
ever they might be. Le Croc went back and 
forth several times, vainly endeavoring to ef- 
fect an accommodation, and finally, giving up 
in despair, he returned to Edinburgh, leaving 
the contending parties to settle the contest in 
their own way. 

Bothwell now sent a herald to the camp of 
his enemies, challenging any one of them to 
meet him, and settle the question of his guilt 
or innocence by single combat. This proposi- 
tion was not qui fee so absurd in those days as 
it would be now, for it was not an uncommon 
thing, in the Middle Ages, to try in this way 
questions of crime. Many negotiations ensued 
on Bothwell's proposal. One or two persons 
express-ed themselves ready to accept the chal- 
lenge. Bothwell objected to them on account 
of their rank being inferior to his, but said he 



208 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Morton. Mary sends for Grange. 

would fight Morton, if Morton would accept his 
challenge. Morton had been his accomplice in 
the murder of Darnley, but had afterward joined 
the party of Bothwell's foes. It would have 
been a singular spectacle to see one of these 
confederates in the commission of a crime con- 
tending desperately in single combat to settle 
the question of the guilt or innocence of the 
other. 

The combat, however, did not take place. 
After many negotiations on the subject, the 
plan was abandoned, each party charging the 
other with declining the contest. The queen 
and Bothwell, in the mean time, found such 
evidences of strength on the part of their ene- 
mies, and felt probably, in their own hearts, so 
much of that faintness and misgiving under 
which human energy almost always sinks when 
the tide begins to turn against it, after the com- 
mission of wrong, that they began to feel dis- 
heartened and discouraged. The queen sent to 
the opposite camp with a request that a certain 
personage, the Laird of Grange, in whom all 
parties had great confidence, should come to her, 
that she might make one more effort at recon- 
ciliation. Grange, after consulting with the 
prince's lords, made a proposition to Mary, which 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 209 

Proposition of Grange. Dismissal of Bothwell. 

she finally concluded to accept. It was as fol- 
lows: 

They proposed that Mary should come over 
to their camp, not saying very distinctly wheth- 
er she was to come as their captive or as their 
queen. The event showed that it was in the 
former capacity that they intended to receive 
her, though they were probably willing that she 
should understand that it was in the latter. 
A.t all events, the proposition itself did not make 
it very clear what her position would be ; and 
the poor queen, distracted by the difficulties 
which surrounded her, and overwhelmed with 
agitation and fear, could not press very strongly 
for precise stipulations. In respect to Both- 
well, they compromised the question by agree- 
ing that, as he was under suspicion in respect 
to the murder of Darnley, he should not accom- 
pany the queen, but should be dismissed upon 
the field ; that is, allowed to depart, without 
molestation, wherever he should choose to go. 
This plan was finally adopted. The queen bade 
Bothwell farewell, and he went away reluctant- 
ly and in great apparent displeasure. He had, 
in fact, with his characteristic ferocity, attempt- 
ed to shoot Grange pending the negotiation. 
Ho mounted his horse, and, with a few attend- 
14 



210 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Question of Mary's guilt. The supposition against her. 

ants, rode off and sought a retreat once more 
upon his rock at Dunbar. 

From all the evidence which has come down 
to us, it seems impossible to ascertain whether 
Mary desired to be released from Bothwell's 
power, and was glad when the release came, 
or whether she still loved him, and was plan- 
ning a reunion, so soon as a reunion should be 
possible. One party at that time maintained, 
and a large class of writers and readers since 
have concurred in the opinion, that Mary was in 
love with Both well before Darnley's death ; that 
she connived with him in the plan for Darn- 
ley's murder ; that she was a consenting party 
to the abduction, and the spending of the ten 
days at Dunbar Castle, in his power; that the 
marriage was the end at which she herself, as 
well as Bothwell, had been all the time aim- 
ing ; and then, when at last she surrendered her- 
self to the prince's lords at Carberry Hill, it was 
only yielding unwillingly to the necessity of a 
temporary separation from her lawless husband, 
with a view of reinstating him in favor and 
power at the earliest opportunity. 

Another party, both among her people at the 
time and among the writers and readers who 
have since paid attention to her story, think 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 211 

The supposition in her favor. Uncertainty. 

that she never loved Bothwell, and that, though 
she valued his services as a bold and energetic 
soldier, she had no collusion with him whatever 
in respect to Darnley's murder. They think 
that, though she must have felt in some sense 
relieved of a burden by Darnley's death, she 
did not in any degree aid in or justify the 
crime, and that she had no reason for suppos- 
ing that Bothwell had any share in the com- 
mission of it. They think, also, that her con- 
senting to marry Bothwell is to be accounted 
for by her natural desire to seek shelter, under 
some wing or other, from the terrible storms 
which were raging around her ; and being de- 
serted, as she thought, by every body else, and 
moved by his passionate love and devotion, 
she imprudently gave herself to him ; that 
she lamented the act as soon as it was done, 
but that it was then too late to retrieve the 
step ; and that, harassed and in despair, she 
knew not what to do, but that she hailed the 
rising of her nobles as affording the only prom- 
ise of deliverance, and came forth from Dunbar 
to meet them with the secret purpose of deliv- 
ering herself into their hands. 

The question which of these two suppositions 
is the correct one has been discussed a great 



212 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

The box of love letters. Their genuineness suspected. 

deal, without the possibility of arriving at any 
satisfactory conclusion. A parcel of letters 
were produced by Mary's enemies, some time 
after this, which they said were Mary's letters 
to Bothwell before her husband Darnley's death. 
They say they took the letters from a man 
named Dalgleish, one of Bothwell's servants, 
who was carrying them from Holyrood to Dun- 
bar Castle, just after Mary and Bothwell fled 
to Borthwick. They were contained in a small 
gilded box or coffer, with the letter F upon it, 
under a crown ; which mark naturally suggests 
to our minds Mary's first husband, Francis, the 
king of France. Dalgleish said that Bothwell 
sent him for this box, charging him to convey 
it with all care to Dunbar Castle. The letters 
purport to be from Mary to Bothwell, and to 
have been written before Darnley's death. They 
evince a strong affection for the person to whom 
they are addressed, and seem conclusively to 
prove the unlawful attachment between the 
parties, provided that their genuineness is ac- 
knowledged. But this genuineness is denied. 
Mary's friends maintain that they are forge- 
ries, prepared by her enemies to justify their 
own wrong. Many volumes have been wri tten 
on the question of the genuineness of these love 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 213 

Disposal of Mary. Return to Edinburgh, 

letters, as they are called, and there is perhaps 
now no probability that the question will ever 
be settled. 

Whatever doubt there may be about these 
things, there is none about the events which 
followed. After Mary had surrendered herself 
to her nobles they took her to the camp, she 
herself riding on horseback, and Grange walk- 
ing by her side. As she advanced to meet 
the nobles who had combined against her, she 
said to them that she had concluded to come 
over to them, not from fear, or from doubt what 
the issue would have been if she had fought the 
battle, but only because she wanted to spare 
the effusion of Christian blood, especially the 
blood of her own subjects. She had therefore 
decided to submit herself to their counsels, 
trusting that they would treat her as their 
rightful queen. The nobles made little reply 
to this address, but prepared to return to Edin- 
burgh with their prize. 

The people of Edinburgh, who had heard 
what turn the affair had taken, nocked out 
upon the roads to see the queen return. They 
lined the waysides to gaze upon the great cav- 
alcade as it passed. The nobles who conducted 
Mary thus back toward her capital had a ban- 



214 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

The banner. Rudeness of the populace 

ner prepared, or allowed one to be prepared, 
on which was a painting representing the dead 
body of Darnley, and the young prince James 
kneeling near him, and calling on God to avenge 
his cause. Mary came on, in the procession, 
after this symbol. They might perhaps say 
that it was not intended to wound her feelings, 
and was not of a nature to do it, unless she con- 
sidered herself as taking sides with the mur- 
derers of her husband. She, however, knew 
very well that she was so regarded by great 
numbers of the populace assembled, and that 
the effect of such an effigy carried before her 
was to hold her up to public obloquy. The 
populace did, in fact, taunt and reproach her as 
she proceeded, and she rode into Edinburgh, 
evincing all the way extreme mental suffering 
by her agitation and her tears. 

She expected that they were at least to take 
her to Holy rood; but no, they turned at the 
gate to enter the city. Mary protested earn- 
estly against this, and called, half frantic, on 
all who heard her to come to her rescue. But 
no one interfered. They took her to the pro- 
vost's house, and lodged her there for the night, 
and the crowd which had assembled to observe 
these proceedings gradually dispersed. There 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 215 

Bothwell's retreat. He is pursued. 

seemed, however, in a day or two, to be some 
symptoms of a reaction in favor of the fallen 
queen ; and, to guard against the possibility of 
a rescue, the lords took Mary to Holyrood 
again, and began immediately to make ar- 
rangements for some more safe place of con- 
finement still. 

In the mean time, Bothwell went from Car- 
berry Hill to his castle at Dunbar, revolving 
moodily in his mind his altered fortunes. After 
some time he found himself not safe in this 
place of refuge, and so he retreated to the 
north, to some estates he had there, in the re- 
mote Highlands. A detachment of forces was 
sent in pursuit of him. Now there are, north 
of Scotland, some groups of dismal islands, the 
summits of submerged mountains and rocks, 
rising in dark and sublime, but gloomy gran- 
deur, from the midst of cold and tempestuous 
seas. Bothwell, finding himself pursued, un- 
dertook to escape by ship to these islands. 
His pursuers, headed by Grange, who had ne- 
gotiated at Carberry for the surrender of the 
queen, embarked in other vessels, and pressed 
on after him. At one time they almost over- 
took him, and would have captured him and 
all his company were it not that they got en- 



216 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 

Bothwell's narrow escape. He turns pirate. 

tangled among some shoals. Grange's sail- 
ors said they must not proceed. Grange, 
eager to seize his prey, insisted on their mak- 
ing sail and pressing forward. The conse- 
quence was, they ran the vessels aground, and 
JBothwell escaped in a small boat. As it was, 
however, they seized some of his accomplices, 
and brought them back to Edinburgh. These 
men were afterward tried, and some of them 
were executed ; and it was at their trial, and 
through the confessions they made, that the 
facts were brought to light which have been 
related in this narrative. 

Bothwell, now a fugitive and an exile, but 
still retaining his desperate and lawless char- 
acter, became a pirate, and attempted to live 
by robbing the commerce of the German Ocean. 
Rumor is the only historian, in ordinary cases, 
to record the events in the life of a pirate ; and 
she, in this case, sent word, from time to time, 
to Scotland, ©f the robberies and murders that 
the desperado committed ; of an expedition fit- 
ted out against him by the King of Denmark ; 
of his being taken and carried into a Danish 
port ; of his being held in imprisonment for a 
long period there, in a gloomy dungeon ; of his 
restless spirit chafing itself in useless struggles 



1567.] Fall of Bothwell. 217 

Bothwell in prison. His miserable end. 

against his fate, and sinking gradually, at last 
under the burdens of remorse for past crimes, 
and despair of any earthly deliverance ; of his 
insanity, and, finally, of his miserable end. 



218 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Grange of Kircaldy. Mary's letter. 



Chapter X. 

Loch Leven Castle. 

£"^ RANGE, or, as he is sometimes called, 
^-^ Kircaldy, his title in full being Grange of 
Kircaldy, was a man of integrity and honor ; 
and he, having been the negotiator through 
whose intervention Mary gave herself up, felt 
himself bound to see that the stipulations on 
the part of the nobles should be honorably ful- 
filled. He did all in his power to protect Mary 
from insult on the journey, and he struck with 
his sword and drove away some of the populace 
who were addressing her with taunts and re- 
proaches. When he found that the nobles were 
confining her, and treating her so much more 
like a captive than like a queen, he remonstra- 
ted with them. They silenced him by show- 
ing him a letter, which they said they had in- 
tercepted on its way from Mary to Bothwell. 
It was written, they said, on the night of Ma- 
ry's arrival at Edinburgh. It assured Both- 
well that she retained an unaltered affection 



1567.] Loch Leven Castle. 219 

Removal of Mary. A ride at night. 

for him ; that her consenting to be separated 
from him at Carberry Hill was a matter of 
mere necessity, and that she should rejoin him 
as soon as it was in her power to do so. This 
letter showed, they said, that, after all, Mary 
was not, as they had supposed, Bothwell's cap- 
tive and victim, but that she was his accom- 
plice and friend ; and that, now that they had 
discovered their mistake, they must treat Mary, 
as well as Bothwell, as an enemy, and take ef- 
fectual means to protect themselves from the 
one as well as from the other. Mary's friends 
maintain that this letter was a forgery. 

They accordingly took Mary, as has been 
already stated, from the provost's house in Ed- 
inburgh down to Holy rood House, which was 
just without the city. This, however, was only 
a temporary change. That night they came 
into the palace, and directed Mary to rise and 
put on a traveling dress which they brought 
her. They did not tell her where she was to 
go, but simply ordered her to follow them. It 
was midnight. They took her forth from the 
palace, mounted her upon a horse, and, with 
Ruthven and Lindsay, two of the murderers of 
Rizzio, for an escort, they rode away. They 
traveled all night, crossed the River Forth, and 



220 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567 

Loch Leven Castle. The square tower. 

arrived in the morning at the Castle of Loch 
Leven. 

The Castle of Loch Leven is on a small isl- 
and in the middle of the loeh. It is nearly north 
from Edinburgh. The castle buildings covered 
at that time about one half of the island, the 
water coming up to the walls on three sides. 
On the other side was a little land, which was 
cultivated as a garden. The buildings inclosed 
a considerable area. There was a great square 
tower, marked on the plan below, which was 
the residence of the family. It consisted of four 
or five rooms, one over the other. The cellar, 
or, rather, what would be the cellar in other 
cases, was a dungeon for such prisoners as were 
to be kept in close confinement. The only en- 
trance to this building was through a window 
in the second story, by means of a ladder which 
was raised and let down by a chain. This was 
over the point marked e on the plan. The chain 
was worked at a window in the story above 
There were various other apartments and struc- 
tures about the square, and among them there 
was a small octagonal tower in the corner at m, 
which consisted within of one room over anoth- 
er for three stories, and a flat roof with battle- 
ments above. In the second story there was a 



1567.] Loch Leven Castle 



221 



Plan of Loch Leven Castle. 



Lady Douglas. 



window, w, looking upon the water. This was 
the only window having an external aspect in 
the whole fortress, all the other openings in the 
exterior walls being mere loop-holes and em- 
brasures. 

The following is a general plan of Loch Leven 
Castle : # 



L&admg. 




This castle was in possession of a certain 
personage styled the Lady Douglas. She was 
the mother of the Lord James, afterward tne 
Earl of Murray, who has figured so conspicu- 

* Compare this plan with the view of the castle, page 236 



222 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Lady Douglas Mary's enemy. Parties for and against Mary. 

ously in this history as Mary's half brother, and 
at first her friend and counselor, though after- 
ward her foe. Lady Douglas was commonly 
called the Lady of Loch Leven. She main- 
tained that she had been lawfully married to 
James V., Mary's father, and that consequent- 
ly her son, and not Mary, was the rightful heir 
to the crown. Of course she was Mary's nat- 
ural enemy. They selected her castle as the 
place of Mary's confinement partly on this ac- 
count, and partly on account of its inaccessible 
position in the midst of the waters of the lake 
They delivered the captive queen, accordingly, 
to the Lady Douglas and her husband, charg- 
ing them to keep her safely. The Lady Doug- 
las received her, and locked her up in the oc- 
tagonal tower with the window looking out 
upon the water. 

In the mean time, all Scotland took sides for 
or against the queen. The strongest party 
were against her ; and the Church was against 
her, on account of their hostility to the Catho- 
lic religion. A sort of provisional government 
was instituted, which assumed the manage- 
ment of public affairs. Mary had, however, 
some friends, and they soon began to assem- 
ble in order to see what could be done for her 



1567.] Loch Leven Castle. 223 

The Hamilton lords. Plans of Mary's enemies, 

cause. Their rendezvous was at the palace of 
Hamilton. This palace was situated on a 
plain in the midst of a beautiful park, near the 
River Clyde, a few miles from Glasgow. The 
Duke of Hamilton was prominent among the 
supporters of the queen, and made his house 
their head-quarters. They were often called, 
from this circumstance, the Hamilton lords. 

On the other hand, the party opposed to 
Mary made the castle of Stirling their head- 
quarters, because the young prince was there, 
in whose name they were proposing soon to as- 
sume the government. Their plan was to de- 
pose. Mary, or induce her to abdicate the throne, 
and then to make Murray regent, to govern 
the country in the name of the prince until 
the prince should become of age. During all 
this time Murray had been absent in France, 
but they now sent urgent messages to him to 
return. He obeyed the summons, and turned 
his face toward Scotland. 

In the mean time, Mary continued in con- 
finement in her little tower. She was not 
treated like a common prisoner, but had, hi 
some degree, the attentions due to her rank. 
There were five or six female, and about as 
many male attendants ; though, if the rooms 



224 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Mary's tower. Ruins. The scale turns against Mary. 

which are exhibited to visitors at the present 
day as the apartments which she occupied are 
really such, her quarters were very contracted, 
They consist of small apartments of an octag- 
onal form, one over the other, with tortuous 
and narrow stair-cases in the solid wall to as- 
cend from one to the other. The roof and the 
floors of the tower are now gone, but the stair- 
ways, the capacious fire-places, the loop-holes, 
and the one window remain, enabling the vis- 
itor to reconstruct the dwelling in imagination, 
and even to fancy Mary herself there again, 
seated on the stone seat by the window, look- 
ing over the water at the distant hills, and sigh- 
ing to be free. 

The Hamilton lords were not strong enough 
to attempt her rescue. The weight of influ- 
ence and power throughout the country went 
gradually and irresistibly into the other scale. 
There were great debates among the authori« 
ties of government as to what should be done. 
The Hamilton lords made proposals in behalf 
of Mary which the government could not ac- 
cede to. Other proposals were made by dif- 
ferent parties in the councils of the insurgent 
nobles, some more and some less hard for the 
captive queen. The conclusion, however, final- 



1567.] Loch Leven Castle. 225 

Proposals made to Mary. The commissioners, 

[y was, to urge Mary to resign her crown in 
favor of her son, and to appoint Murray, when 
he should return, to act as regent till the prince 
should be of age. 

They accordingly sent commissioners to 
Loch Leven to propose these measures to the 
queen. There were three instruments of ab- 
dication prepared for her to sign. By one she 
resigned the crown in favor of her son. By 
the second she appointed Murray to be regent 
as soon as he should return from France. By 
the third she appointed commissioners to gov- 
ern the country until Murray should return. 
They knew that Mary would be extremely un- 
willing to sign these papers, and yet that they 
must contrive, in some way, to obtain her sig- 
nature without any open violence ; for the sig- 
nature, to be of legal force, must be, in some 
sense, her voluntary act. 

The two commissioners whom they sent to 
her were Melville and Lindsay. Melville was 
a thoughtful and a reasonable man, who had 
long been in Mary's service, and who possessed 
a great share of her confidence and good will. 
Lindsay was, on the other hand, of an over- 
bearing and violent temper, of very rude speech 

and demeanor, and was known to be unfriend- 
15 



226 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Melville unsuccessful. Lindsay called in. 

ly to the queen. They hoped that Mary would 
be induced to sign the papers by Melville's gen- 
tle persuasions ; if not, Lindsay was to see 
what he could do by denunciations and threats. 

When the two commissioners arrived at the 
castle, Melville alone went first into the pres- 
ence of the queen. He opened the subject to 
her in a gentle and respectful manner. He 
laid before her the distracted state of Scotland, 
the uncertain and vague suspicions floating in 
the public mind on the subject of Darnley's 
murder, and the irretrievable shade which had 
been thrown over her position by the unhappy 
marriage with Bothwell ; and he urged her to 
consent to the proposed measures, as the only 
way now left to restore peace to the land. 
Mary heard him patiently, but replied that she 
could not consent to his proposal. By doing so 
she should not only sacrifice her own rights, 
and degrade herself from the position she was 
entitled to occupy, but she should, in some 
sense, acknowledge herself guilty of the charg- 
es brought against her, and justify her enemies 

Melville, finding that his efforts were vain, 
called Lindsay in. He entered with a fierce 
and determined air Mary was reminded of the 
terrible night when he and Ruthven broke intc 



1567.] Loch Leven Castle. 227 

Lindsay's brutality. Abdication. Coronation of James. 

her little supper-room at Holyrood in quest of 
Rizzio. She was agitated and alarmed. Lind- 
say assailed her with denunciations and threats 
of the most violent character. There ensued 
a scene of the most rough and ferocious passion 
on the one side, and of anguish, terror, and de- 
spair on the other, which is said to have made 
this day the most wretched of all the wretched 
days of Mary's life. Sometimes she sat pale, 
motionless, and almost stupefied. At others, 
she was overwhelmed with sorrow and tears. 
She finally yielded; and, taking the pen, she 
signed the papers. Lindsay and Melville took 
them, left the castle gate, entered their boat, 
and were rowed away to the shore. 

This was on the 25th of July, 1567, and 
four days afterward the young prince was 
crowned at Stirling. His title was James VI. 
Lindsay made oath at the coronation that he 
was a witness of Mary's abdication of the 
crown in favor of her son, and that it was her 
own free and voluntary act. James was about 
one year old. The coronation took place in 
the chapel where Mary had been crowned in 
her infancy, about twenty-five years before. 
Mary herself, though unconscious of her own 
coronation, mourned bitterly over that of her 



228 Mary Queen op Scots. [1567. 

Ceremonies. Return of Murray 

son. Unhappy mother ! how little was she 
aware, when her heart was filled with joy and 
gladness at his birth, that in one short year his 
mere existence would furnish to her enemies 
the means of consummating and sealing her 
ruin. 

On returning from the chapel to the state 
apartments of the castle, after the coronation, 
the noblemen by whom the infant had been 
crowned walked in solemn procession, bearing 
the badges and insignia of the newly-invested 
royalty. One carried the crown. Morton, who 
was to exercise the government until Murray 
should return, followed with the scepter, and a 
third bore the infant king, who gazed about un- 
consciously upon the scene, regardless alike of 
his mother's lonely wretchedness and of his own 
new scepter and crown. 

In the mean time, Murray was drawing near 
toward the confines of Scotland. He was some- 
what uncertain how to act. Having been ab- 
sent for some time in France and on the Con- 
tinent, he was not certain how far the people 
of Scotland were really and cordially in favor 
of the revolution which had been effected. Ma- 
ry's friends might claim that her acts of abdi- 
cation, having been obtained while she was un- 



1567.] Loch Leven Castle. 229 



Murray's interview with Mary. Affecting scene. 

der duress, were null and void, and if they were 
strong enough they might attempt to reinstate 
her upon the throne. In this case, it would be 
better for him not to have acted with the insur- 
gent government at all. To gain information 
on these points, Murray sent to Melville to come 
and meet him on the border. Melville came. 
The result of their conferences was, that Mur- 
ray resolved to visit Mary in her tower before 
he adopted any decisive course. 

Murray accordingly journeyed northward to 
Loch Leven, and, embarking in the boat which 
plied between the castle and the shore, he cross- 
ed the sheet of water, and was admitted into 
the fortress. He had a long interview with 
Mary alone. At the sight of her long-absent 
brother, who had been her friend and guide in 
her early days of prosperity and happiness, and 
who had accompanied her through so many 
changing scenes, and who now returned, after 
his long separation from her, to find her a lone- 
ly and wretched captive, involved in irretriev- 
able ruin, if not in acknowledged guilt, she 
was entirely overcome by her emotions. She 
burst into tears and could not speak. What 
further passed at this interview was never pre- 
cisely known. They parted tolerably good 



230 Mary Queen of Scots. [1567. 

Murray assumes the government. His warnings. 

friends, however, and yet Murray immediately 
assumed the government, by which it is sup- 
posed that he succeeded in persuading Mary 
that such a step was now best for her sake as 
well as for that of all others concerned. 

Murray, however, did not fail to warn her, 
as he himself states, in a very serious manner, 
against any attempt to change her situation. 
"Madam," said he, " I will plainly declare to 
you what the sources of danger are from which 
[ think you have most to apprehend. First, any 
ittempt, of whatever kind, that you may make 
to create disturbance in the country, through 
friends that may still adhere to your cause, and 
to interfere with the government of your son ; 
secondly, devising or attempting any plan of 
escape from this island; thirdly, taking any 
measures . for inducing the Queen of England 
or the French king to come to your aid ; and, 
lastly, persisting in your attachment to Earl 
Both well." He warned Mary solemnly against 
any and all of these, and then took his leave. 
He was soon after proclaimed regent. A Par- 
liament was assembled to sanction all these 
proceedings, and the new government was es- 
tablished, apparently upon a firm foundation. 

Mary remained, during the winter, in captiv- 



1568.] Loch Leven Castle. 231 

The young Douglases. Their interest in Mary 

ity, earnestly desiring, however, notwithstand- 
ing Murray's warning, to find some way of es- 
cape. She knew that there must be many who 
had remained friends to her cause. She thought 
that if she could once make her escape from her 
prison, these friends would rally around her, 
and that she could thus, perhaps, regain her 
throne again. But strictly watched as she was, 
and in a prison which was surrounded by the 
waters of a lake, all hope of escape seemed to 
be taken away. 

Now there were, in the family of the Lord 
Douglas at the castle, two young men, George 
and William Douglas. The oldest, George, 
was about twenty-five years of age, and the 
youngest was seventeen. George was the son 
of Lord and Lady Douglas who kept the cas- 
tle. William was an orphan boy, a relative, 
who, having no home, had been received into 
the family. These young men soon began to 
feel a strong interest in the beautiful captive 
confined in their father's castle, and, before 
many months, this interest became so strong 
that they began to feel willing to incur the 
dangers and responsibilities of aiding her in ef- 
fecting her escape. They had secret confer- 
ences with Mary on the subject. They went 



232 Mary Queen of Scots. [1568 

Plan for Mary's escape. The laundress. 

to the shore on various pretexts, and contrived 
to make their plans known to Mary's friends, 
that they might be ready to receive her in case 
they should succeed. 

The plan at length was ripe for execution 
It was arranged thus. The castle not being 
large, there was not space within its walls for 
all the accommodations required for its in- 
mates; much was done on the shore, where 
there was quite a little village of attendants 
and dependents pertaining to the castle. This 
little village has since grown into a flourishing 
manufacturing town, where a great variety of 
plaids, and tartans, and other Scotch fabrics 
are made. Its name is Kinross. Communica- 
tion with this part of the shore was then, as 
now, kept up by boats, which generally then 
belonged to the castle, though now to the town. 

On the day when Mary was to attempt her 
escape, a servant woman was brought by one 
of the castle boats from the shore with a bun- 
dle of clothes for Mary. Mary, whose health 
and strength had been impaired by her confine- 
ment and sufferings, was often in her bed. 
She was so at this time, though perhaps she 
was feigning now more feebleness than she 
really felt. The servant woman came into her 



1568.] Loch Leven Castle. 233 

The disguise. Escape. Discovery. 

apartment and undressed herself, while Mary 
rose, took the dress which she laid aside, and 
put it on as a disguise. The woman took 
Mary's place in bed. Mary covered her face 
with a muffler, and, taking another bundle in 
her hand to assist in her disguise, she passed 
across the court, issued from the castle gate, 
went to the landing stairs, and stepped into the 
boat for the men to row her to the shore. 

The oarsmen, who belonged to the castle, 
supposing that all was right, pushed off, and 
began to row toward the land. As they were 
crossing the water, however, they observed that 
their passenger was very particular to keep her 
face covered, and attempted to pull away the 
muffler, saying, "Let us see what kind of a 
looking damsel this is." Mary, in alarm, put- 
up her hands to her face to hold the mufflei 
there. The smooth, white, and delicate fingers 
revealed to the men at once that they were car- 
rying away a lady in disguise. Mary, finding 
that concealment was no longer possible, dropped 
her muffler, looked upon the men with compo- 
sure and dignity, told them that she was their 
queen, that they were bound by their allegiance 
to her to obey her commands, and she command - 
ed them to go on and row her to the shore. 



234 Mary Q,ueen of Scots. [1568 

Mary's return. Banishment of George Douglat 

The men decided, however, that their alio 
giance was due to the lord of the castle rathei 
than to the helpless captive trying to escape 
from it. They told her that they must return. 
Mary was not only disappointed at the failure 
of her plans, but she was now anxious lest her 
friends, the young Douglases, should be impli- 
cated in the attempt, and should suffer in con- 
sequence of it. The men, however, solemnly 
promised her, that if she would quietly return, 
they would not make the circumstances known. 
The secret, however, was too great a secret to 
be kept. In a few days it all came to light. 
Lord and Lady Douglas were very angry with 
their son, and banished him, together with two 
of Mary's servants, from the castle. What- 
ever share young William Douglas had in the 
scheme was not found out, and he was suffered 
to remain. George Douglas went only to Kin- 
ross. He remained there watching for another 
opportunity to help Mary to her freedom. 

In the mean time, the watch and ward held 
over Mary was more strict and rigorous than 
ever, her keepers being resolved to double their 
vigilance, while George and William, on the 
other hand, resolved to redouble their exertions 
to find some means to circumvent it. William, 



1568.] Loch Leven Castle. 237 



Secret communications. New plan of escape. 

who was only a boy of seventeen, and who re- 
mained within the castle, acted his part in a 
very sagacious and admirable manner. He was 
silent, and assumed a thoughtless and uncon- 
cerned manner in his general deportment, which 
put every one off their guard in respect to him. 
George, who was at Kinross, held frequent com- 
munications with the Hamilton lords, encour- 
aging them to hope for Mary's escape, and lead- 
ing them to continue in combination, and to be 
ready to act at a moment's warning. They 
communicated with each other, too, by secret 
means, across the lake, and with Mary in her 
solitary tower. It is said that George, wishing 
to make Mary understand that their plans for 
rescuing her were not abandoned, and not hav- 
ing the opportunity to do so directly, sent her a 
picture of the mouse liberating the lion from 
his snares, hoping that she would draw from 
the picture the inference which he intended. 

At length the time arrived for another at- 
tempt. It was about the first of May. By 
looking at the engraving of Loch Leven Castle, 
it will be seen that there was a window in Ma- 
ry's tower looking out over the water. George 
Douglas's plan was to bring a boat up to this 
window in the night, and take Mary down the 



238 Mary Queen of Scots. [1568 

The postern gate. Liberation of Mary. Jane Kennedy. 

wall into it. The place of egress by which 
Mary escaped is called in some of the ac- 
counts a postern gate, and yet tradition at the 
castle says that it was through this window. 
It is not improbable that this window might 
have been intended to be used sometimes as a 
postern gate, and that the iron grating with 
which it was guarded was made to open and 
shut, the key being kept with the other keys 
of the castle. 

The time for the attempt was fixed upon for 
Sunday night, on the 2d of May. George 
Douglas was ready with the boat early in the 
evening. When it was dark, he rowed cau- 
tiously across the water, and took his position 
under Mary's window. William Douglas was 
in the mean time at supper in the great square 
tower with his father and mother. The keys 
were lying upon the table. He contrived to get 
them into his possession, and then cautiously 
stole away. He locked the tower as he came 
out, went across the court to Mary's room, lib- 
erated her through the postern window, and de- 
scended with her into the boat. One of her 
maids, whose name was Jane Kennedy, was to 
have accompanied her, but, in their eagerness 
to make sure of Mary, they forgot or neglected 



1568.] Loch Leven Castle. 239 

Phe escape. Mary's joy. Popular feeling. 

her, and she had to leap down after them, which 
feat she accomplished without any serious in- 
jury. The boat pushed off immediately, and 
the Douglases began to pull hard for the shore. 
They threw the keys of the castle into the lake, 
as if the impossibility of recovering them, in 
that case, made the imprisonment of the family 
more secure. The whole party were, of course, 
in the highest state of excitement and agitation. 
Jane Kennedy helped to row, and it is said that 
even Mary applied her strength to one of the 
oars. 

They landed safely on the south side of the 
loch, far from Kinross. Several of the Hamil- 
ton lords were ready there to receive the fugi- 
tive. They mounted her on horseback, and 
galloped away. There was a strong party to 
escort her. They rode hard all night, and the 
next morning they arrived safely at Hamilton. 
"Now," said Mary, "I am once more a queen.' 1 
It was true. She was again a queen. Pop- 
ular feeling ebbs and flows with prodigious force, 
and the change from one state to the other de- 
pends, sometimes, on very accidental causes 
The news of Mary's escape spread rapidly over 
the land. Her friends were encouraged and 
emboldened. Sympathies, long dormant and 



240 xMary Queen of Scots. [1568. 

Mary s proclamation. Ruins of Loch Leven Castle. 

inert, were awakened in her favor. She issued 
a proclamation, declaring that her abdication 
had been forced upon her, and, as such, was 
null and void. She summoned Murray to sur- 
render his powers as regent, and to come and 
receive orders from her. She called upon all 
her faithful subjects to take up arms and gather 
around her standard. Murray refused to obey, 
but large masses of the people gave in their ad- 
hesion to their liberated queen, and flocked to 
Hamilton to enter into her service. In a week 
Mary found herself at the head of an army of 
six thousand men. 

The Castle of Loch Leven is now a solitary 
ruin. The waters of the loch have been low- 
ered by means of an excavation of the outlet, 
and a portion of land has been left bare around 
the walls, which the proprietor has planted with 
trees. Visitors are taken from Kinross in a 
boat to view the scene. The square tower, 
though roofless and desolate, still stands. The 
window in the second story, which served as the 
entrance, and the one above, where the chain 
was worked, with the deep furrows in the sill 
cut by its friction, are shown by the guide. The 
court-yard is overgrown with weeds, and en- 



1568.] Loch Leven Castle. 248 

The octagonal tower. Visitors. 

cumbered with fallen stones and old founda- 
tions. The chapel is gone, though its outline 
may be still traced in the ruins of its walls. 
The octagonal tower which Mary occupied re- 
mains, and the visitors, climbing up by the nar- 
row stone stairs in the wall, look out at the win- 
dow over the waters of the loch and the distant 
hills, and try to recreate in imagination the scene 
which the apartment presented when the un« 
happy captive was there. 



^44 Mary Queen of Scots. [1568. 

Dumbarton Castle. The situation and aspect 



Chapter XL 
The Long Captivity. 

AMXLTON, which had been thus far the 
queen's place of rendezvous, was a palace 
rather than a castle, and therefore not a place, 
of defense.. It was situated, as has been al- 
ready stated, on the River Clyde, above Glas- 
gow ; that is, toward the southeast of it, the 
River Clyde flowing toward the northwest. The 
Castle of Dumbarton, which has already been 
mentioned as the place from which Mary em- 
barked for France in her early childhood, was 
below Glasgow, on the northern shore of the 
river. It stands there still in good repair, and 
is well garrisoned ; it crowns a rock which 
rises abruptly from the midst of a comparatively 
level country, smiling with villages and culti- 
vated fields, and frowns sternly upon the peace- 
ful steamers and merchant ships which are con- 
tinually gliding along under its guns, up and 
down the Clyde. 

Queen Mary concluded to move forward to 



1568.] The Long Captivity. 245 

Attempt to retreat to Dumbarton. Mary's forces defeated, 

Dumbarton, it being a place of greater safety 
than Hamilton. Murray gathered his forces to 
intercept her march. The two armies met near 
Glasgow, as the queen was moving westward, 
down the river. There was a piece of rising 
ground between them, which each party was 
eager to ascend before the other should reach 
it. The leader of the forces on Murray's side 
ordered every horseman to take up a foot-sol- 
dier behind him, and ride with all speed to the 
top of the hill. By this means the great body 
of Murray's troops were put in possession of the 
vantage ground. The queen's forces took post 
on another rising ground, less favorable, at a 
little distance. The place was called Langside. 
A cannonading was soon commenced, and a gen- 
eral battle ensued. Mary watched the progress 
of it with intense emotions. Her forces began 
soon to give way, and before many hours they 
were retreating in all directions, the whole coun- 
try being soon covered with the awful specta- 
cles which are afforded by one terrified and 
panic-stricken army flying before the furious 
and triumphant rage of another. Mary gazed 
on the scene in an agony of grief and despair. 

A few faithful friends kept near her side, and 
told her that she must hurry away, Thc^ 



246 Mary Queen of Scots. [1568. 

Mary's flight. Dundrennan. Consultations. 

turned to the southward, and rode away from 
the ground. They pressed on as rapidly as pos- 
sible toward the southern coast, thinking that 
the only safety for Mary now was for her to 
make her escape from the country altogether, 
and go either to England or to France, in hopes 
of obtaining foreign aid to enable her to recover 
her throne. They at length reached the sea- 
coast. Mary was received into an abbey called 
Dundrennan, not far from the English frontier. 
Here she remained, with a few nobles and a 
small body of attendants, for two days, spend- 
ing the time in anxious consultations to determ- 
ine what should be done. Mary herself was 
in favor of going to England, and appealing to 
Elizabeth for protection and help. Her friends 
and advisers, knowing Elizabeth perhaps better 
than Mary did, recommended that she should 
sail for France, in hopes of awakening sympa- 
thy there. But Mary, as we might naturally 
have expected, considering the circumstances 
under which she left that country, found her- 
self extremely unwilling to go there as a fugi- 
tive and a suppliant. It was decided, finally, 
to go to England. 

The nearest stronghold in England was Car- 
lisle Castle, which was not very far from the 



1568.] 


T 


HE 


L 


ONG 


Captivity. 


247 


Carlisle Castle 










Mary's message to the 


governor 



frontier. The boundary between the two king, 
doms is formed here by the Solway Frith, a 
broad arm of the sea. Dundrennan Abbey, to 
which Mary had retreated, was near the town 
of Kirkcudbright, which is, of course, on the 
northern side of the Frith ; it is also near the 
sea. Carlisle is further up the Frith, near 
where the River Solway empties into it, and is 
twenty or thirty miles from the shore. 

Mary sent a messenger to the governor of 
the castle at Carlisle to inquire whether he 
would receive and protect her. She could not, 
however, wait for an answer to this message, as 
the country was all in commotion, and she was 
exposed to an attack at any time from Mur- 
ray's forces, in which case, even if they should 
not succeed in taking her captive, they might 
effectually cut off her retreat from Scottish 
ground. She accordingly determined to pro- 
ceed immediately, and receive the answer from 
the governor of the castle on the way. She 
set out on the 16th of May. Eighteen or 
twenty persons constituted her train. This 
was all that remained to her of her army of six 
thousand men. She proceeded to the shore. 
They provided a fishing-boat for the voyage, 
furnishing it as comfortably for her as circum- 



248 Mary Queen of Scots. [1568 

Lowther. Mary's reception at the castle. 

stances would admit. She embarked, and sail- 
ed along the coast, eastward, up the Frith, for 
about eighteen miles, gazing mournfully upon 
the receding shore of her native land — receding, 
in fact, now from her view forever. They 
landed at the most convenient port for reaching 
Carlisle, intending to take the remainder of the 
journey by land. 

In the mean time, the messenger, on his ar- 
rival at Carlisle, found that the governor had 
gone to London. His second in rank, whom 
he had left in command, immediately sent off 
an express after him to inform him of the event. 
The name of this lieutenant-governor was Low- 
ther. Lowther did all in Mary's favor that it 
was in his power to do. He directed the mes- 
senger to inform her that he had sent to Lon- 
don for instructions from Elizabeth, but that, 
in the mean time, she would be a welcome 
guest in his castle, and that he would defend 
her there from all her enemies. He then sent 
around to all the nobles and men of distinction 
in the neighborhood, informing them of the ar- 
rival of the distinguished visitor, and having as- 
sembled them, they proceeded together toward 
the coast to meet and receive the unhappy fu- 
gitive with the honors becoming her rank, 



249 



1568.] The Long Captivity 

Is Mary a guest or a prisoner ? Precautions for guarding her 

though such honors must have seemed little 
else than a mockery in her present condition. 

Mary was received at the castle as an hon- 
ored guest. It is, however, a curious circum- 
stance, that, in respect to the reception of princes 
and queens in royal castles, there is little or no 
distinction between the ceremonies which mark 
the honored guest and those which attend the 
helpless captive. Mary had a great many friends 
at first, who came out of Scotland to visit her. 
The authorities ordered repairs to be commenced 
upon the castle, to fit it more suitably for so 
distinguished an inmate, and, in consequence 
of the making of these repairs, they found it in- 
convenient to admit visitors. Of course, Mary, 
being a mere guest, could not complain. She 
wanted to take a walk beyond the limits of the 
castle, upon a green to which there was access 
through a postern gate. Certainly : the gov- 
ernor made no objection to such a walk, but 
sent twenty or thirty armed men to accompany 
her. They might be considered either as an 
honorary escort, or as a guard to watch her 
movements, to prevent her escape, and to se- 
cure her return. At one time she proposed to 
go a hunting They allowed her to go, prop- 
erty attended. On her return, however, the 



250 Mary Queen of Scots. [1568. 

Elizabeth's hypocrisy. Dishonorable proposal. 

officer reported to his superior that she was so 
admirable in her horsemanship, and could ride 
with so much fearlessness and speed, that he 
thought it might be possible for a body of her 
friends to come and carry her off, on some such 
occasion, back across the frontier. So they de- 
termined to tell Mary, when she wished to hunt 
again, that they thought it not safe for her to 
go out on such excursions, as her enemies might 
make a sudden invasion and carry her away. 
The precautions would be just the same to pro- 
tect Mary from her enemies as to keep her from 
her friends. 

Elizabeth sent her captive cousin very kind 
and condoling messages, dispatching, however, 
by the same messenger stringent order* + ,o tne 
commander of the castle to be sure and keep 
her safely. Mary asked for an interview with 
Elizabeth. Elizabeth's officers replied that she 
could not properly admit Mary to a personal in- 
terview until she had been, in some way or oth- 
er, cleared of the suspicion which attached to her 
in respect to the murder of Darnley. They pro- 
posed, moreover, that Mary should consent to 
have that question examined before some sort 
of court which Elizabeth might constitute for 
this purpose. Now it is a special point of honor 



1565.] The Long Captivity. 251 

Removal. Separation from friends. Proposed trial 

among all sovereign kings and queens, through- 
out the civilized world, that they can, techni- 
cally, do no wrong ; that they can not in any 
way be brought to trial ; and especially that 
they can not be, by any means or in any way, 
amenable to each other. Mary refused to ac- 
knowledge any English jurisdiction whatever 
in respect to any charges brought against her, 
a sovereign queen of Scotland. 

Elizabeth removed her prisoner to anothei 
castle further from the frontier than Carlisle, in 
order to place her in a situation where she would 
be more safe from her enemies. It was not con- 
venient to lodge so many of her attendants at 
these new quarters as hi the other fortress, and 
several were dismissed. Additional obstructions 
were thrown in the way of her seeing friends 
and visitors from Scotland. Mary found her 
situation growing every day more and more 
helpless and desolate. Elizabeth urged contin- 
ually upon her the necessity of having the points 
at issue between herself and Murray examined 
by a commissioner, artfully putting it on the 
ground, not of a trial of Mary, but a calling of 
Murray to account, by Mary, for his usurpa- 
tion. At last, harassed and worn down, and 
finding no ray of hope coming to her from any 



252 Mary Queen of Scots. [1569. 

Opening of the court. Adjourned to London. 

quarter, she consented. Elizabeth constituted 
such a court, which was to meet at York, a 
large and ancient city in the north of England. 
Murray was to appear there in person, with 
other lords associated with him. Mary appoint- 
ed commissioners to appear for her ; and the 
two parties went into court, each thinking that 
it was the other which was accused and on trial. 
The court assembled, and, after being opened 
with great parade and ceremony, commenced 
the investigation of the questions at issue, which 
led, of course, to endless criminations and re- 
criminations, the ground covering the whole 
history of Mary's career in Scotland. The\ 
went on for some weeks in this hopeless laby- 
rinth, until, at length, Murray produced the fa- 
mous letters alleged to have been written by 
Mary to Bothwell before Darnley's murder, as 
a part of the evidence, and charged Mary, on 
the strength of this evidence, with having been 
an abettor in the murder. Elizabeth, finding 
that the affair was becoming, as in fact she 
wished it to become, more and more involved, 
and wishing to get Mary more and more entan- 
gled in it, and to draw her still further into her 
power, ordered the conference, as the court was 
called, to be adjourned to London. Here things 



1569.] The Long Captivity. 253 

Failure of the trial. Mary's indignant pride. 

took such a turn that Mary complained that she 
was herself treated in so unjust a manner, and 
Murray and his cause were allowed so many 
unfair advantages, that she could not allow the 
discussion on her part to continue. The con- 
ference was accordingly broken up, each party 
charging the other with being the cause of the 
interruption. 

Murray returned to Scotland to resume his 
government there. Mary was held a closer 
captive than ever. She sent to Elizabeth ask- 
ing her to remove these restraints, and allow 
her to depart either to her own country or to 
France. Elizabeth replied that she could not, 
considering all the circumstances of the case, 
allow her to leave England ; but that, if she 
would give up all claims to the government of 
Scotland to her son, the young prince, she 
might remain in peace in England. Mary re- 
plied that she would suffer death a thousand 
times rather than dishonor herself in the eyes 
of the world by abandoning, in such a way, her 
rights as a sovereign. The last words which 
she should speak, she said, should be those of 
ihe Queen of Scotland. 

Elizabeth therefore considered that she had 
no alternative left but to keep Mary a prison- 



254 Mary Queen of Scots. [1569 

Elizabeth's negotiations with Murray. Their failure. 

er. She accordingly retained her for some 
time in confinement, but she soon found that 
such a charge was a serious incumbrance to 
her, and one not unattended with danger. The 
disaffected in her own realm were beginning to 
form plots, and to consider whether they could 
not, in some way or other, make use of Mary's 
claims to the English crown to aid them. Fi- 
nally, Elizabeth came to the conclusion, when 
she had become a little satiated with the feel- 
ing, at first so delightful, of having Mary in her 
power, that, after all, it would be quite as con- 
venient to have her imprisoned in Scotland, and 
she opened a negotiation with Murray for de- 
livering Mary into his hands. He was, on his 
part, to agree to save her life, and to keep her 
a close prisoner, and he was to deliver hostages 
to Elizabeth as security for the fulfillment of 
these obligations. 

Various difficulties, however, occurred in the 
way of the accomplishment of these plans, and 
before the arrangement was finally completed, 
it was cut suddenly short by Murray's misera- 
ble end. One of the Hamiltons, who had been 
with Mary at Langside, was taken prisoner 
after the battle. Murray, who, of course, as 
the legally constituted regent in the name of 



1569.] The Long Captivity. 255 

Cruel treatment of Lady Hamilton. Hamilton resolves on revenge. 

James, considered himself as representing the 
royal authority of the kingdom, regarded these 
prisoners as rebels taken in the act of insurrec- 
tion against their sovereign. They were con- 
demned to death, but finally were pardoned at 
the place of execution. Their estates were, 
however, confiscated, and given to the follower.* 
and favorites of Murray. 

One of these men, in taking possession of the 
house of Hamilton, with a cruel brutality char- 
acteristic of the times, turned Hamilton's fami- 
ly out abruptly in a cold night— perhaps exas- 
perated by resistance which he may have en- 
countered. The wife of Hamilton, it is said, 
was sent out naked ; but the expression means, 
probably, very insufficiently clothed for such an 
exposure. At any rate, the unhappy outcast 
wandered about, half frantic with anger and 
terror, until, before morning, she was wholly 
frantic and insane. To have such a calamity 
brought upon him in consequence merely of his 
fidelity to his queen, was, as the bereaved and 
wretched husband thought, an injury not to be 
borne. He considered Murray the responsible 
author of these miseries, and silently and calm- 
ly resolved on a terrible revenge. 

Murray was making a progress through the 



256 Mary Queen of Scots. [1569 

Hamilton's plans. Death of Murray 

country, traveling in state with a great reti- 
nue, and was to pass through Linlithgow. 
There is a town of that name close by the pal- 
ace. Hamilton provided himself with a room 
in one of the houses on the principal street, 
through which he knew that Murray must 
pass. He had a fleet horse ready for him at 
the back door. The front door was barricaded. 
There was a sort of balcony or gallery project- 
ing toward the street, with a window in it. 
He stationed himself here, having carefully 
taken every precaution to prevent his being 
S3en from the street, or overheard in his move- 
ments. Murray lodged in the town during the 
night, and Hamilton posted himself in his am- 
buscade the next morning, armed with a gun. 
The town was thronged, and Murray, on is- 
suing from his lodging, escorted by his caval- 
cade, found the streets crowded with specta- 
tors. He made his way slowly, on account of 
the throng. When he arrived at the proper 
point, Hamilton took his aim in a cool and de- 
liberate manner, screened from observation by 
black cloths with which he had darkened his hid- 
ing-place. He fired. The ball passed through 
the body of the regent, and thence, descending 
as it went, killed a horse on the other side of 



1570.] The Long Captivity. 257 

Hamilton's flight Mary's grief. Duke of Norfolk. 

him. Murray fell. There was a universal 
outcry of surprise and fear. They made an 
onset upon the house from which the shot had 
been fired. The door was strongly barricaded. 
Before they could get the means to force an 
entrance, Hamilton was on his horse and far 
away. The regent was carried to his lodgings, 
and died that night. 

Murray was Queen Mary's half brother, and 
the connection of his fortunes with hers, con- 
sidered in respect to its intimacy and the length 
of its duration, was, on the whole, greater than 
that of any other individual. He may be said 
to have governed Scotland, in reality, during 
the whole of Mary's nominal reign, first as her 
minister and friend, and afterward as her com- 
petitor and foe. He was, at any rate, during 
most of her life, her nearest relative and her 
most constant companion, and Mary mourned 
his death with many tears. 

There was a great nobleman in England, 
named the Duke of Norfolk, who had vast es- 
tates, and was regarded as the greatest subject 
in the realm. He was a Catholic. Among 
the other countless schemes and plots to which 
Mary's presence in England gave rise, he 
formed a plan of marrying her, and, through her 
17 



258 Mary Queen op Scots. [1570. 

Duke of Norfolk beheaded. Mary's unhappy situation, 

claim to the crown and by the help of the Cath- 
olics, to overturn the government of Elizabeth. 
He entered into negotiations with Mary, and 
she consented to become his wife, without, 
however, as she says, being a party to his po- 
litical schemes. His plots were discovered; 
he was imprisoned, tried, and beheaded. Mary 
was accused of sharing the guilt of his treason. 
She denied this. She was not very vigorously 
proceeded against, but she suffered in the event 
of the affair another sad disappointment of her 
hopes of liberty, and her confinement became 
more strict and absolute than ever. 

Still she had quite a numerous retinue of 
attendants. Many of her former friends were 
allowed to continue with her. Jane Kennedy, 
who had escaped with her from Loch. Leven, re- 
mained in her service. She was removed from 
castle to castle, at Elizabeth's orders, to dimin- 
ish the probability of the forming and maturing 
of plans of escape. She amused herself some- 
times in embroidery and similar pursuits, and 
sometimes she pined and languished under the 
pressure of her sorrows and woes. Sixteen or 
eighteen years passed away in this manner. 
She was almost forgotten. Very exciting pub- 
lic events were taking place in England and in 



1570.] The Long Captivity. 259 

Mary almost forgotten in her captivity. 

Scotland, and the name of the poor captive queen 
at length seemed to pass from men's minds, ex- 
cept so far as it was whispered secretly in plots 
and intrigues. 



260 Mary Queen of Scots. [1586 

Plots and intrigues. How far Mary was involved 



Chapter XII. 

The End. 

ARY did not always discourage the plots 
and intrigues with which her name was 
connected. She, of course, longed for deliver- 
ance from the thraldom in which Elizabeth 
held her, and was ready to embrace any op- 
portunity which promised release. She thus 
seems to have listened from time to time to the 
overtures which were made to her, and involv- 
ed herself, in Elizabeth's opinion, more or less, 
in the responsibility which attached to them. 
Elizabeth did not, however, in such cases, do 
any thing more than to increase somewhat the 
rigors of her imprisonment. She was afraid to 
proceed to extremities with her, partly, per- 
haps, for fear that she might, by doing so, 
awaken the hostility of France, whose king 
was Mary's cousin, or of Scotland, whose mon- 
arch was her son. 

At length, however, in the year 1586, about 
eighteen years from the commencement of 



1586.] The End. 261 

Babington's conspiracy. Secret correspondence. 

Mary's captivity, a plot was formed in which 
she became so seriously involved as to subject 
herself to the charge of aiding and abetting in 
the high treason of which the leaders of the plot 
were proved to be guilty. This plot is known 
in history by the name of Babington's conspir- 
acy. Babington was a young gentleman of 
fortune, who lived in the heart of England. 
He was inspired with a strong degree of inter- 
est in Mary's fate, and wished to rescue her 
from her captivity. He joined himself with a 
large party of influential individuals of the 
Catholic faith. The conspirators opened nego- 
tiations with the courts of France and Spain 
for aid. They planned an insurrection, the as- 
sassination of Elizabeth, the rescue of Mary, 
and a general revolution. They maintained a 
correspondence with Mary. This correspond- 
ence was managed very secretly, the letters 
being placed by a confidential messenger in a 
certain hole in the castle wall where Queen 
Mary was confined. 

One day, when Mary was going out to rid© ; 
just as she was entering her carriage, officers 
suddenly arrived from London. They told her 
that the plot in which she had been engaged 
had been discovered ; that fourteen of the prin- 



262 Mary Queen op Scots. [1586, 

Seizure of Mary's papers. Her son James. 

oipal conspirators had been hung, seven on each 
of two successive days, and that they had come 
to arrest some of her attendants and to seize 
her papers. They accordingly went into her 
apartments, opened all her desks, trunks, and 
cabinets, seized her papers, and took them to 
London. Mary sat down in the scene of deso- 
lation and disorder which they left, and wept 
bitterly. 

The papers which were seized were taken to 
London, and Elizabeth's government began se- 
riously to agitate the question of bringing Mary 
herself to trial. One would have thought that, 
in her forlorn and desolate condition, she would 
have looked to her son for sympathy and>aid, 
But rival claimants to a crown can have little 
kind feeling to each other, even if they are moth- 
er and son. James, as he gradually approach- 
ed toward maturity, took sides against his moth- 
er. In fact, all Scotland was divided, and was 
for many years in a state of civil war : those 
who advocated Mary's right to the crown on 
one side, and James's adherents on the other. 
They were called king's men and queen's men. 
James was, of course, brought up in hostility to 
his mother, and he wrote to her, about a year 
before Babington's conspiracy, in terms so hos- 



1586.] The End. 263 

Elizabeth resolves to bring Mary to trial. Fotheringay Castle. 

tile and so devoid of filial love, that his ingrati- 
tude stung her to the heart. " "Was it for this," 
she said, "that I made so many sacrifices, and 
endured so many trials on his account in his 
early years ? I have made it the whole busi- 
ness of my life to protect and secure his rights, 
and to open before him a prospect of future 
power and glory : and this is the return." 

The English government, under Elizabeth's 
direction, concluded to bring Mary to a public 
trial. They removed her, accordingly, to the 
Castle of Fotheringay. Fotheringay is in Nor- 
thamptonshire, which is in the very heart of 
England, Northampton, the shire town, being 
about sixty miles northwest of London. Foth- 
eringay Castle was on the banks of the River 
Nen, or Avon, which flows northeast from Nor- 
thampton to the sea. A few miles below the 
castle is the ancient town of Peterborough, 
where there was a monastery and a great ca- 
thedral church. The monastery had been built 
a thousand years before. 

They removed Mary to Fotheringay Castle 
for her trial, and lawyers, counselors, commis- 
sioners, and officers of state began to assemble 
there from all quarters. The castle was a spa- 
cious structure It was surrounded with two 



264 Mary Queen of Scots. [1586. 

Great interest in the trial. Preparations for it 

moats, and with double walls, and was strongly 
fortified. It contained numerous and spacious 
apartments, and it had especially one large hall 
which was well adapted to the purposes of this 
great trial. The preparations for the solemn 
ordeal through which Mary was now to pass, 
brought her forth from the obscurity in which 
she had so long been lost to the eyes of man- 
kind, and made her the universal object of in- 
terest and attention in England, Scotland, and 
France. The people of all these nations looked 
on with great interest at the spectacle of one 
queen tried solemnly on a charge of high trea- 
son against another. The stories of her beauty, 
her graces, her misfortunes, which had slum- 
bered for eighteen years, were all now revived, 
and every body felt a warm interest in the poor 
captive, worn down by long confinement, and 
trembling in the hands of what they feared 
would be a merciless and terrible power. 

Mary was removed to the Castle of Fother- 
ingay toward the end of September, 1586. The 
preparations for the trial proceeded slowly. 
Every thing in which kings and queens, or af- 
fairs of state were concerned in those days, was 
conducted with great pomp and ceremony. The 
arrangements of the hall were minutely pre 



1586.] The End. 265 

The throne. Mary refuses to plead 

scribed. At the head of it a sort of throne was 
placed, with a royal canopy over it, for the 
Queen of England. This, though it was va- 
cant, impressed the court and the spectators as 
a symbol of royalty, and denoted that the sov- 
ereignty of Elizabeth was the power before which 
Mary was arraigned. 

"When the preparations were made, Mary re 
fused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the 
court. She denied that they had any right to 
arraign or to try her. " I am no subject of 
Elizabeth's," said she. " I am an independent 
and sovereign queen as well as she, and I will not 
consent to any thing inconsistent with this my 
true position. I owe no allegiance to England, 
and I am not, in any sense, subject to her laws. 
I came into the realm only to ask assistance 
from a sister queen, and I have been made a 
captive, and detained many years in an unjust 
and cruel imprisonment ; and though now worn 
down both in body and mind by my protracted 
sufferings, I am not yet so enfeebled as to for- 
get what is due to myself, my ancestors, and 
my country." 

This refusal of Mary's to plead, or to ac- 
knowledge the jurisdiction of the court, caused 
a new delay. They urged her to abandon her 



266 Mary Queen of Scots. [1586 

The commission. The great hall. 

resolution. They told her that if she refused 
to plead, the trial would proceed without her 
action, and, by pursuing such a course, she 
would only deprive herself of the means of de- 
fense, without at all impeding the course of her 
fate. At length Mary yielded. It would have 
been better for her to have adhered to her first 
.intention. 

The commission by which Mary was to be 
tried consisted of earls, barons, and other per- 
sons of rank, twenty or thirty in number. They 
were seated on each side of the room, the throne 
being at the head. In the center was a table, 
where the lawyers, by whom the trial was to be 
conducted, were seated. Below this table was 
a chair for Mary. Behind Mary's chair was a 
rail, dividing off the lower end of the hall from 
the court ; and this formed an outer space, to 
which some spectators were admitted. 

Mary took her place in the seat assigned her, 
and the trial proceeded. They adduced the evi- 
dence against her, and then asked for her defense. 
She said substantially that she had a right to 
make an effort to recover her liberty ; that, aft- 
er being confined a captive so long, and having 
lost forever her youth, her health, and her hap- 
piness, it was not wonderful that she wished to 



1586.] The End. 267 

Mary pronounced guilty. Elizabeth's pretended sorrow 

be free ; but that, in endeavoring to obtain her 
freedom, she had formed no plans to injure Eliz- 
abeth, or to interfere in any way with her rights 
or prerogatives as queen. The commissioners, 
after devoting some days to hearing evidence, 
and listening to the defense, sent Mary back to 
her apartments, and went to London. There 
they had a final consultation, and unanimously 
agreed in the following decision : " That Mary, 
commonly called Queen of Scots and dowager 
of France, had been an accessory to Babing- 
fcon's conspiracy, and had compassed the death 
of Elizabeth, queen of England." 

Elizabeth pretended to be very much con- 
cerned at this result. She laid the proceedings 
before Parliament. It was supposed then, and 
has always been supposed since, that she wished 
Mary to be beheaded, but desired not to take 
the responsibility of it herself; and that she 
wanted to appear unwilling, and to be impell- 
ed, greatly against her own inclinations, by the 
urgency of others, to carry the sentence into 
execution. At any rate, Parliament, and all 
the members of the government, approved and 
confirmed the verdict, and wished to have it 
carried into effect. 

It has always been the custom, in modern 



268 Mary Queen of Scots. [1586 

Signing the warrant. Shuffling of Elizabeth 

times, to require the solemn act of the supreme 
magistrate of any state to confirm a decision 
of a tribunal which condemns a person to death, 
by signing what is called a warrant for the ex- 
ecution. This is done by the king or queen in 
England, and by the governor in one of the 
United States. This warrant is an order, very 
formally written, and sealed with the great seal, 
authorizing the executioner to proceed, and carry 
the sentence into effect. Of course, Queen Mary 
could not be executed unless Elizabeth should 
first sign the warrant. Elizabeth would her- 
self, probably, have been better pleased to have 
been excused from all direct agency in the af- 
fair. But this could not be. She, however, 
made much delay, and affected great unwill- 
ingness to proceed. She sent messengers to 
Mary, telling her what the sentence had been, 
how sorry she was to hear it, and how much 
she desired to save her life, if it were possible. 
At the same time, she told her that she feared 
it might not be in her power, and she advised 
Mary to prepare her mind for the execution of 
the sentence. 

Mary wrote a letter to Elizabeth in reply. 
She said in this letter that she was glad to heai* 
that they had pronounced sentence of death 



1586.] The End. 269 

Mary's letter to Elizabeth. Interposition of Mary's friends 

against her, for she was weary of life, and had 
no hope of relief or rest from her miseries but 
in the grave. She wrote, therefore, not to ask 
any change in the decision, but to make three 
requests. First, that, after her execution, her 
body might be removed to France, and be de- 
posited at Rheims, where the ashes of her moth- 
er were reposing. Secondly, that her execu- 
tion should not be in secret, but that her per- 
sonal friends might be present, to attest to the 
world that she met 'her fate with resignation 
and fortitude ; and, thirdly, that her attendants 
and friends, who had, through their faithful love 
for her, shared her captivity so long, might be 
permitted to retire wherever they pleased, after 
her death, without any molestation. " I hope," 
said she, in conclusion, "you will not refuse me 
these my dying requests, but that you will as- 
sure me by a letter under your own hand that 
you will comply with them, and then I shall 
die as I have lived, your affectionate sister and 
prisoner, Mary Queen of Scots." 

The King of France, and James, Mary's son 
in Scotland, made somewhat vigorous efforts to 
arrest the execution of the sentence which had 
been pronounced against Mary. From these 
and other causes, the signing of the warrant 



270 Mary Queen of Scots. [1587 

Elizabeth signs the warrant. It is read to Mary 

was delayed for some months, but at length 
Elizabeth yielded to the solicitations of her min- 
isters. She affixed her signature to the instru- 
ment. The chancellor put upon it the great 
seal, and the commissioners who were appointed 
by it to superintend the execution went to 
Fotheringay. They arrived there on the 7th 
of February, 1587. 

After resting, and refreshing themselves for 
a short time from their journey, the commis- 
sioners sent word to Mary that they wished for 
an interview with her. Mary had retired. They 
said that their business was very important. 
She rose, and prepared to receive them. She 
assembled all her attendants, fourteen or fifteen 
in number, in order to receive the commission- 
ers in a manner comporting, so far as circum- 
stances allowed, with her rank and station. 
The commissioners were at length ushered into 
the apartment. They stood respectfully before 
her, with their heads uncovered. The foremost 
then, in language as forbearing and gentle as 
was consistent with the nature of his message, 
informed her that it had been decided to carry 
the sentence which had been pronounced against 
her into effect, and then he requested another 
of the number to read the warrant for her exe- 
cution. 



1587.] The End. 273 

Mary hears the sentence with composure. Protests her innocence. 

Mary listened to it calmly and patiently. 
Her attendants, one after another, were over- 
come by the mournful and awful solemnity of 
the scene, and melted into tears. Mary, how- 
ever, was calm. When the reading of the war- 
rant was ended, she said that she was sorry 
that her cousin Elizabeth should set the exam- 
ple of taking the life of a sovereign queen ; but 
for herself, she was willing to die. Life had 
long ceased to afford her any peace or happi- 
ness, and she was ready to exchange it for the 
prospect of immortality. She then laid her 
hand upon the New Testament, which was 
near her, of course a Catholic version, and call- 
ed God to witness that she had never plotted 
herself, or joined in plots with others, for the 
death of Elizabeth. One of the commissioners 
remarked that her oath being upon a Catholic 
version of the Bible, they should not consider it 
valid. She rejoined that it ought to be con- 
sidered the more sacred and solemn on that ac- 
count, as that was the version which she re- 
garded as the only one which was authorita- 
tive and true. 

Mary then asked the commissioners several 
questions, as whether her son James had not 
expressed any interest in her fate, and whether 
18 



274 Mary Queen of Scots. [1587 

Mary refused a priest. Mary alone with her friends. 

no foreign princes had interposed to save her. 
The commissioners answered these and other 
inquiries, and Mary learned from their answers 
that her fate was sealed. She then asked them 
what time was appointed for the execution. 
They replied that it was to take place at eight 
o'clock the following morning. 

Mary had not expected so early an hour to 
be named. She said it was sudden ; and she 
seemed agitated and distressed. She, howev- 
er, soon recovered her composure, and asked 
to have a Catholic priest allowed to visit her. 
The commissioners replied that that could not 
be permitted. They, however, proposed to send 
the Dean of Peterborough to visit her. A dean 
is the ecclesiastical functionary presiding over 
a cathedral church ; and, of course, the Dean 
of Peterborough was the clergyman of the high- 
est rank in that vicinity. He was, however, a 
Protestant, and Mary did not wish to see him. 

The commissioners withdrew, and left Mary 
with her friends, when there ensued one of 
those scenes of anguish and suffering which 
those who witness them never forget, but carry 
the gloomy remembrance of them, like a dark 
shadow in the soul, to the end of their days, 
Mary was quiet, and appeared calm. It may. 



1587.] The End. 275 

Affecting scene. Supper. Mary's farewell to her attendants. 

however, have been the calm of hopeless and 
absolute despair. Her attendants were over- 
whelmed with agitation and grief, the expres- 
sion of which they could not even attempt to 
control. At last they became more composed, 
and Mary asked them to kneel with her in 
prayer ; and she prayed for some time fervent- 
ly and earnestly in the midst of them. 

She then directed supper to be prepared as 
usual, and, until it was ready, she spent her time 
in dividing the money which she had on hand 
into separate parcels for her attendants, mark- 
ing each parcel with the name. She sat down 
at the table when supper was served, and 
though she ate but little, she conversed as usual, 
in a cheerful manner, and with smiles. Her 
friends were silent and sad, struggling contin- 
ually to keep back their tears. At the close 
of the supper Mary called for a cup of wine, 
and drank to the health of each one of them, 
and then asked them to drink to her. They 
took the cup, and, kneeling before her, complied 
with her request, though, as they did it, the 
tears would come to their eyes. Mary then 
told them that she willingly forgave them for all 
that they had ever done to displease her, and 
she thanked them for their long-continued fide]- 



276 Mary (^ueen of Scots. [1587 

Mary's last letters. Her directions as to the disposal of her body. 

ity and love. She also asked that they would 
forgive her for any thing she might ever have 
done in respect to them which was inconsistent 
with her duty. They answered the request 
only with a renewal of their tears. 

Mary spent the evening in writing two let- 
ters to n*er nearest relatives in France, and in 
making her will. The principal object of these 
letters was to recommend her servants to the 
attention and care of those to whom they were 
addressed, after she should be gone. She went 
to bed shortly after midnight, and it is said she 
slept. This would be incredible, if any thing 
were incredible in respect to the workings of 
the human soul in a time of awful trial like this, 
which so transcends all the ordinary conditions 
of its existence. 

At any rate, whether Mary slept or not, the 
morning soon came. Her friends were around 
her as soon as she rose. She gave them mi- 
nute directions about the disposition of her body. 
She wished to have it taken to France to be in- 
terred, as she had requested of Elizabeth, either 
at Rheims, in the same tomb with the body of 
her mother, or else at St. Denis, an ancient 
abbey a little north of Paris, where the ashes 
of a long line of French monarchs repose. She 



1587.] The End. 277 

Arrangements for the execution. The scaffold. 

begged her servants, if possible, not to leave her 
body till it should reach its final home in one of 
these places of sepulture. 

In the mean time, arrangements had been 
made for the last act in this dreadful tragedy, 
in the same great hall where she had been tried. 
They raised a platform upon the stone floor of 
the hall large enough to contain those who were 
to take part in the closing scene. On this plat- 
form was a block, a cushion, and a chair. All 
these things, as well as the platform itself, were 
covered with black cloth, giving to the whole 
scene a most solemn and funereal expression. 
The part of the hall containing this scaffold was 
railed off from the rest. The governor of the 
castle, and a body of guards, came in and took 
their station at the sides of the room. Two ex- 
ecutioners, one holding the axe, stood upon the 
scaffold on one side of the block. Two of the 
commissioners stood upon the other side. The 
remaining commissioners and several gentle- 
men of the neighborhood took their places as 
spectators without the rail. The number of 
persons thus assembled was about two hundred. 
Strange that any one should have come in, vol- 
untarily, to witness such a scene ! 

When all was ready, the sheriff, carrying his 



278 Mary Queen of Scots. [1587. 

Proceeding to the hall. Interview with Melville. 

white wand of office, and attended by some of 
the commissioners, went for Mary. She was 
at her devotions, and she asked a little delay 
that she might conclude them : perhaps the 
shrinking spirit clung at the last moment to 
life, and wished to linger a few minutes longer 
before taking the final farewell. The request 
was granted. In a short time Mary signified 
that she was ready, and they began to move 
toward the hall of execution. Her attendants 
were going to accompany her. The sheriff said 
this could not be allowed. She accordingly 
bade them farewell, and they filled the castle 
with the sound of their shrieks and lamenta- 
tions. 

Mary went on, descending the stair-case, at 
the foot of which she was joined by one of her 
attendants, from whom she had been separated 
for some time. His name was Sir Andrew 
Melville, and he was the master of her house- 
hold. The name of her secretary Melville was 
James. Sir Andrew kneeled before her, kissed 
her hand, and said that this was the saddest 
hour of his life. Mary began to give him some 
last commissions and requests. " Say," said 
she, " that I died firm in the faith ; that I for- 
give my enemies ; that I feel that I have never 



1587.] The End. 279 

Mary's last message. She desires the presence of her attendants. 

disgraced Scotland, my native country, and that 
I have been always true to France, the land of 
my happiest years. Tell my son — " Here her 
voice faltered and ceased to be heard, and she 
burst into tears. 

She struggled to regain her composure. 
"Tell my son," said she, " that I thought of 
him in my last moments, and that I have never 
yielded, either by word or deed, to any thing 
whatever that might lead to his prejudice. 
Tell him to cherish the memory of his mother, 
and say that I sincerely hope his life may be 
happier than mine has been." 

Mary then turned to the commissioners who 
stood by, and renewed her request that her at- 
tendants, who had just been separated from 
her, might come down and see her die. The 
commissioners objected. They said that if 
these attendants were admitted, their anguish 
and lamentations would only add to her own 
distress, and make the whole scene more pain- 
ful. Mary, however, urged the request. She 
said they had been devotedly attached to her 
all her days ; they had shared her captivity, 
and loved and served her faithfully to the end, 
and it was enough if she herself, and they, de- 
sired that they should be present. The com- 



280 Mary Queen of Scots. [1587 

Mary's dress and appearance. Symbols of religion 

missioners at last yielded, and allowed her to 
name six, who should be summoned to attend 
her. She did so, and the six came down. 

The sad procession then proceeded to the 
hall. Mary was in full court dress, and walk- 
ed into the apartment with the air and com- 
posure of a reigning queen. She leaned on the 
arm of her physician. Sir Andrew Melville 
followed, bearing the train of her robe. Her 
dress is described as a gown of black silk, bor- 
dered with crimson velvet, over which was a 
satin mantle. A long veil of white crape, 
edged with rich lace, hung down almost to the 
ground. Around her neck was an ivory cru- 
cifix^-that is, an image of Christ upon the 
cross, which the Catholics use as a memorial 
of our Savior's sufferings — and a rosary, which 
is a string of beads of peculiar arrangement, 
often employed by them as an aid in their de- 
votions. Mary meant, doubtless, by these sym- 
bols, to show to her enemies and to the world, 
that though she submitted to her fate without 
resistance, yet, so far as the contest of her life 
had been one of religious faith, she had no in- 
tention of yielding. 

Mary ascended the platform and took her 
seat in the chair provided for her. "With the 






1587.] The End. 281 

Mary's firmness in her faith. Her last prayer. 

exception of stifled sobs here and there to be 
heard, the room was still. An officer then ad- 
vanced and read the warrant of execution, 
which the executioners listened to as their au- 
thority for doing the dreadful work which they 
were about to perform. The Dean of Peter- 
borough, the Protestant ecclesiastic whom Mary 
had refused to see, then came forward to the 
foot of the platform, and most absurdly com- 
menced an address to her, with a view to con- 
vert her to the Protestant faith. Mary inter- 
rupted him, saying that she had been born and 
had lived a Catholic, and she was resolved so 
to die ; and she asked him to spare her his use- 
less reasonings. The dean persisted in going 
on. Mary turned away from him, kneeled 
down, and began to offer a Latin prayer. The 
dean soon brought his ministrations to a close, 
and then Mary prayed for some time, in a dis- 
tinct and fervent voice, in English, the large 
company listening with breathless attention. 
She prayed for her own soul, and that she 
might have comfort from heaven in the agony 
of death. She implored God's blessing upon 
France ; upon Scotland ; upon England ; upon 
Queen Elizabeth ; and, more than all, upon her 
son. During this time she held the ivory cm- 



282 Mary Queen of Scots. [1587. 

The execution. Heart-rending scene. Disposition of the body. 

cifix in her hand, clasping it and raising it from 
time to time toward heaven. 

When her prayer was ended, she rose, and, 
with the assistance of her attendants, took off 
her veil, and such other parts of her dress as it 
was necessary to remove in order to leave the 
neck bare, and then she kneeled forward and 
laid her head upon the block. The agitation 
of the assembly became extreme. Some turned 
away from the scene faint and sick at heart; 
some looked more eagerly and intensely at the 
group upon the scaffold ; some wept and sobbed 
aloud. The assistant executioner put Mary's 
two hands together and held them ; the other 
raised his axe, and, after the horrid sound of 
two or three successive blows, the assistant held 
up the dissevered head, saying, " So perish ail 
Queen Elizabeth's enemies." 

The assembly dispersed. The body was 
taken into an adjoining apartment, and pre- 
pared for interment. Mary's attendants wished 
to have it delivered to them, that they might 
comply with her dying request to convey it to 
France ; but they were told that they could 
not be allowed to do so. The body was interred 
with great pomp and ceremony in the Cathe- 



1587.] The End. 283 

Elizabeth's affected surprise. Her conduct. 

dral at Peterborough, where it remained in 
peace for many years. 

Now that the deed was done, the great prob- 
lem with Elizabeth was, of course, to avert the 
consequences of the terrible displeasure and 
thirst for revenge which she might naturally 
suppose it would awaken in Scotland and in 
France. She succeeded very well in accom- 
plishing this. As soon as she heard of the ex- 
ecution of Mary, she expressed the utmost sur- 
prise, grief, and indignation. She said that she 
had, indeed, signed the death warrant, but it 
was not her intention at all to have it execut- 
ed ; and that, when she delivered it to the offi- 
cer, she charged him not to let it go out of his 
possession. This the officer denied. Elizabeth 
insisted, and punished the officer by a long im- 
prisonment, and perpetual disgrace, for his pre- 
tended offense. She sent a messenger to James, 
explaining the terrible accident, as she termed 
it, which had occurred, and deprecating his dis- 
pleasure. James, though at first filled with 
indignation, and determined to avenge his 
mother's death, allowed himself to be appeased. 

About twenty years after this, Elizabeth 
died, and the great object of Mary's ambition 



284 Mary Queen of Scots. [1587. 

The end of Mary's ambition realized. Accession of James I. 

throughout her whole life was attained by the 
union of the Scotch and English crowns on the 
head of her son. As soon as Elizabeth ceased 
to breathe, James the Sixth of Scotland was 
proclaimed James the First of England. He 
was at that time nearly forty years of age. He 
was married, and had several young children. 
The circumstances of King James's journey to 
London, when he went to take possession of his 
new kingdom, are related in the History of 
Charles I., belonging to this series. Though 
James thus became monarch of both England 
and Scotland, it must not be supposed that the 
two kingdoms were combined. They remain- 
ed separate for many years — two independent 
kingdoms governed by one king. 

When James succeeded to the English throne, 
his mother had been dead many years, and what- 
ever feelings of affection may have bound his 
heart to her in early life, they were now well- 
nigh obliterated by the lapse of time, and by 
the new ties by which he was connected with 
his wife and his children. As soon as he was 
seated on his new throne, however, he ordered 
the Castle of Fotheringay, which had been the 
scene of his mother's trial and death, to be lev- 
eled with the ground, and he transferred her 



1587.J The End. 285 

Tomb of Mary at Westminster Abbey. 

remains to Westminster Abbey, where they still 
repose. 




Mary's Tomb at Westminster Abbe\ 



286 Mary Queen of Scots [1587. 

Mary's love and ambition. She triumphs in the end, 

If the lifeless dust had retained its conscious- 
ness when it was thus transferred, with what 
intense emotions of pride and pleasure would 
the mother's heart have been filled, in being 
thus brought to her final home in that ancient 
sepulcher of the English kings, by her son, 
now, at last, safely established, where she had 
so long toiled and suffered to instate him, in his 
place in the line. Ambition was the great, 
paramount, ruling principle of Mary's life. 
Love was, with her, an occasional, though per- 
fectly uncontrollable impulse, which came sud- 
denly to interrupt her plans and divert her from 
her course, leaving her to get back to it again, 
after devious wanderings, with great difficulty 
and through many tears. The love, with the 
consequences which followed from it, destroyed 
her ; while the ambition, recovering itself after 
every contest with its rival, and holding out 
perseveringly to the last, saved her son; so that, 
in the long contest in which her life was spent, 
though she suffered all the way, and at last 
sacrificed herself, she triumphed in the end. 



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